PR 



THE 



SEA S O.N S. 



A POEM. 



BY 

JAMES THOMSON. 



BOSTON: 

CROSBY AND NICHOLS. 

1862. 






48 6555 

JUL 2 1942 



SPRING. 



The subject proposed. Fngcribed to the Countesg of llertfonl. The 
Season ib ileFcrih«jil as it aiFucts the various pu'ls of Natuie, 
aeceri'ling .rom the lower to me n-gnor; with iligrossioiis ari-jiiig 
&om lh« •uhiecl. Its intl induce on iii.ininiiite Miitt -r, on Vaseta- 
blos, oil hnilo Anim.als, und last on Wan ; coiicluiling witii a tlis- 
Buaaive fri>m the wild and irregular passion of Love, oppoaad to 
that of a pure and happy kind. 



Come, gentle Spring, ethereal Mildness, come, / 
And from the hosom of yon dropping cloud, 
While music wakes around, veild in a ihovver 
Df shadowing roses, on our plains descend. 

O Hertford, fitted or to shine in courts 6 

With unaffected grace, or walk the plain 
With innocence and meditation join'd 
In soft asseinhlage, listen to my song, 
Which ihy own Season paints ; when Nature all 
Is blooming and benevolent, like thee. 10 

And- see where surly Winter passes off, 
Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts: 
His blasts obey, and quit tlie hov/ling hill, 
The shatter'd forest, and the ravaged vale ; 
While softer gales succeed, at whose kind touch, 15 
Dissolving snows in livid torrents lost. 
The mountains lift their green heads to the sky 

As yet the trembling year is unconfirm'd, 
And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze, 
Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets 20 
Deform the day delighlless : so that scarce 
The bittern knov/s his time, with bill ingulf'd, 
To shake the soundinjf rn.Hi ; or from the shore 
The plovers when to scaiier o'er the heath, 
And sing their wild notes to the listening waste. 25 



4 SPRING. 

At last from Aries rolls lii3 bounteous sun, 
And the bright Bull receives him. Then no vnoie 
The' expansive atmosphere is cramp d with cold ;. 
But, full of life and vivifying soul, 
Lifts the light clouds sublime, and spreads them thm, 
Floaty, and white o'er all surrounding heaven. 31 

Forth fly the tepid airs ; and unconfined, 
Unbinding earth, tlie moving softness strays. 
Joyous, the' impatient husbandman perceives 
Relenting Nature, and his lusty steers 35 

Drives from their stalls, to where the well used plough 
Lies in the furrow, loosen'd from the frost. 
There unrefusing, to the harness'd yoke. 
They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil, 
Cheer'd by the simple song and soaring lark. 40 

Meanwhile i-n-umbent o'er the shining share 
The master leans, removes the' obstructing clay, 
Winds the whole work, and sidelong la3's the glebe. 

While thro' the neighbouring fields the sow(;r stalks, 
Wilfi :ni-jasured step ; a.id liberal throws the grain 45 
Into the faithful bosom of the ground : 
The harrow Tojlows harsh, and shuts the scene 

Be gracious, Heaven ! for now laborious man 
Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes, blow ; 
Ye softening dews, ye tender showers, descend! 50 
And tem])er all, thou world-reviving sun, 
Into the perfect year ! Nor ye who live 
In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride. 
Think these lost themes, unworthy of your ear. 
Such thcues as these the rural Maro sung 56 

To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height 
Of elegance and taste, by G'eece refined. 
\n ancient times, the sacred plough enijiloy'd 
The kings, and awful fathers of mankind • 
And some, with whom compared your insect tribes 60 
Are but the beings of a summer's t\<iy. 
Have held the sc;ile of empire, ruled tl e storm 
Of mighty war ; then, with unwearied h;uid 



SPRING. 

Disdaining- little delicacies, seized 

The plough, and greatly independent lived. C5 

Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough ! 
And o'er your hills and long withdrawing vales 
Let Autumn spread his treasures to the sun. 
Luxuriant and unbounded : as the sea, 
Fur through his azure turbulent domain, 70 

Your empire owns, and from a thousar-d shores 
Wafts ail the pomp of life into your ports ; 
So will superior boon may your rich soil, 
Exuberant, Nature's better blessings pour 
O er every land, the naked nations clothe, 78 

And be the' exhaustless granary of a world! 

Nor only througli the lenient air this change, 
Delicious, breathes ; the penetrative sun, 
His force deep darting to the dark retreat 
Of vegetation, sets the steaming Power 80 

At large, to wander o'er the verdant earth, 
In various hues ; but chiefly thee, gay greon! 
Thou smiling Nature's universal robe ! 
United light and shade ! where the sight dwells 
With glowing strength and ever new delight. 85 

From the moist meadow to the wither'd hill, 
Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs, 
And swells and deepens to the cherish'd eye. 
The hawthorn whitens ; and the juicy groves 
Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, iX) 

Till the whole leafy forest stands display'd. 
In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales : 
Where the deer rustle through the twining brake, 
And the birds sing conceal'd. At once array 'd 
In all the colours of the flushing year, 35 

l>y Nature's swift and secret working hand. 
The garden flows, and fills the liberal air 
With lavish fragrance ; while the promised fruH 
Lies yet a little embryo, unperceived, 
Within its crimson folds. Now from the town, lOQ 
Buried in smoke and sleep and nois.ime damps, 



tf SPRING. 

Ofl let lie wander o'er the dewy fields, 

Where t'l oshness b reatlies, and dash the trembling drops 

From the bent bush, as through the verdant maze 

Ofsweetbriar hedges I pursue' my walk; 105 

Or taste tlie smell of dairy ; or ascend 

Soirie eminence, Augusta, in tliy plains, 

And see the country, far diffused around, 

One boundless blush, one white-empurpled shower 

Of mingled blossoms ; where the raptured eye 110 

Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath 

The fair profusion, yellow Autumn spies. 

If, brush"d from Russian wilds, a cutting gale 
Rise not, and scatter from his humid wings 
The clammy mildew ; or, dry blowing, breathe 115 
Untimely frost ; before whose baleful blast 
The full blown Spring througli all her fohage shrinks 
Joyless and dead, a wide dejected waste. 
For oft, engender'd by the hazy north, 
Mj riads on myriads, insect armies waft 120 

Keen in the poison'd breeze ; and wasteful eat, 
Through buds and bark, into the blackend core, 
Their eager way. A feeble race ! yet oft 
The sacred sons of vengeance ; on whose course 
Corrosive Famine waits, and kills the year. 125 

To check this plague, the skilful farmer chaff 
And blazing straw before his orchard burns ; 
Till, all involved in smoke, the latent foe 
From every cranny suffocated falls : 
Or scatters o'er the blooms the pungent dust 130 

Of pepper, fatal to the frosty tribe : 
Or, when the' envenom'd leaf begins to curl. 
With sprinkled water drowns them in their nest: 
Nor, wliile they pick them up with busy bill, 
Tlie little trooping birds unwisely scares. 135 

Be patient, swains ; these cruel-seeming winds 
Blow not iji vain. Far hence they keep repress'd 
I'hose dee])ening clouds on clouds, surciiarged with raiiii 
That o er tjie vast Atlanl.c hither borne. 



SPRING. 7 

In endless train, would quench the summer blaze, 14P 
And, cheerless, drown the crude unri])end year. 

The norlh-east spends his rage ; he now shut up 
Within liis iron cave, the' effusive south 
Warms tiio wide air, and >'cr the void of heaven 
Breathes the h\v clouds with vernal showers distent. 
As first a dusky wreath they seem to rise, M6 

Scarce staining ether ; but, by swift degrees, 
In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour sails 
Along the loaded sky, and mingling deep 
Sits on the' Imrizon round a settled gloom: 150 

Not such as wintry storms on mortals shed, 
Op))ressing life ; but lovely, gentle, kind, 
And full of every hope and every joy. 
The wish of Nature. Gradual sinks the breeze 
Into a perfect calm ; that not a breath 155 

Is heard to quiver through the closing woods, 
Or rustling inrn the many-twinkli)ig leaves 
Of aspen tall. The' uncurling floods, ditfused 
In glassy breadth, seem through delusive lapse 
Forgetful of their course. "Tis silence all, 160 

And pleasing expectation. Herds and flocks 
Drop the dry sprig, and mute imploring eye 
The falling voroiire. Hush'd in short suspense, 
The phimy people streak their wings v/ith oil. 
To thro\-r the lucid moisture trickling off*: 165 

And wait the' appioaching sign to strike, at once, 
Into the general choir. Even mountains, vales, 
And forests seem impatient to demand 
The promised sweetness. Man superior walks 
Amid the glad creation, musmg praise, I7C 

And looking lively gratitude. At last, 
The clouds consign their treasures to the fields; 
.A.nd, softly shaking on the dimpled pool 
Prelusive droj)s, Lt all their moisture flow, 
In large effusion, o'er the freshen'd world. 175 

The stealing shower is scarce to patter hea.'-d, 
SJy fiJuch as wander through the forest walks, 



8 SPRING. 

Beneath the' niTibragcous multitude of leaves. 

Uut who can hold the shade while Heaven doEcends 

la universal bounty, shedding herbs ]fcj^ 

And fruits and flowers on Nature's amjyle lap 1 

Swifl F'aiKty fired anticipates their growth ; 

And, while the milky nutriment distils, 

Beholds the kindling country colour round. 

Thus all day long the full distended clouds 185 

Indulge their genial stores, and well shower'd caith 
Is deep enrichd with vegetable life ; 
Till, m the western sky, the downward sun 
Looks out, pifulgent, from amid the flush 
Of broken clouds, gay-shifting to his beam. 190 

T!ie rapid radiance instantaneous strikes 
The' illumined mountain, through the forest streams, 
Shakes on the floods, and in a yellow mist, 
Far smoking o'er the' interminable plain, 
In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems. 195 

Moist, bright, and green, the landscape la\ighs around 
Full swell the woods ; their very music wakes, 
Mix'd in wild concert wit.i the warbling brooks 
Increased, the distant bleatings of the hills, 
And hollow lows responsive from the vales, 200 

Whence blending, all the sweeten'd zephyr springs. 
Meantime, refracted from yon eastern cloud, 
Bestriding earth, Uie grand ethereal bow 
Shoots u}) imn.ense ; and every luie unfolds, 
In fair proportion running from the red 205 

To where the violet fades into the sky. 
Here, awful Newton, the dissolving clouds 
Form, fronting on the sun, thy showery prism ; 
And to the sage-instructed eye unfold 
The various twine of light, by thee disclosed 210 

Froir. the white mingling maze. Not so the boy: 
He wondering views the bright enciiantinent bend. 
Delightful, o'er the radiant fields, and runs 
To catch the falling glory ; but amazed 
Beholds the' anmsive arch betore hiui fly, 215 



SPRJN(.T 9 

fhon vanish quite away. Still ninlit succeeds, 

soflen'd shade, and saturated earth 
Lwaits the inorninjr beam, to give to light, 
lised through ten thousand diirerent plastic tubes, 

balmy treasures of tlie former day. 220 

pThcn spring the living herbs, profusely wild, 
J'er all the deep-green earth, b.^yond the power 
If botanists to nuii.ber up tiieir tribes : 
'^hetlipr he steals along the lonely dale, 
[n silent search ; or through the forest, rank 2'25 

With what the dull incurious v/eeds account, 
Bursts liis blind way ; or climbs the mountain rock 
Fired by tl»e nodding verdure of its bn>w. 
With sui'h a liberal hand has Nature Hung 
Their seeds abroad, bl.nvn them about in winds, 230 
Innunierous niix"d them v/ith th"? nursing mould, 
Tlie moistening current, and prolific rain 

But wiu) their virtues can declare ? who pierce, 
With vision pure, into these secret stores 
Of health and hfe and joy ? the tood of Man, 233 

While yet ho lived in innocence, and told 
A length of golden years ; unflcsli'd in blood, 
A stranger to the savage arts of life, 
Death, rapine, carnage, surfeit, and disease . 
TJie lord, and not the tyrant, of the world. 24C 

The first fresh dawn then waked the gladden'd race 
Of uncorrupted Man, nor biush'd to see 
The shiggard sleej) beneath its sacred beam ; 
For tiieir light slumbers gently fumed away; 
And up they rose as vigorous as the sun, 2t5 

Or to the culture of tlie willing glebe 
Or to the cheerful tendance of the flock : 
Meantime Jie song went round ; and dance and sport, 
Wisd«»m and friendly talk, successive, stole 
Their hours away : while in the rosy vale 25C 

Lo^e breathed his infant sighs, from anguish free, 
And full replete with bliss ; save the sweet paiu, 
I'hat, inly thrilling, but exalts it more 



/O SPRING. 

Nor yet injnrio.is act, nor surly deed, 
Was known among those hapi^y sons of Ircaven , 2f>fl 
For reason and benevolence were law. 
Harmonious Nature too look'd smiling on. 
Clear shone the skies, cool'd with eternal gales, 
And balmy spirit all. The youthful sun 
Sliol his best rays, and still the graciovis clouds 2GC 
Dropp'd fatnct-s down ; as o'er the swelling nuead, 
Tlie herds and flocks, commixing, phiy'd secure. 
This when, emergent from the gloomy wood. 
The glaring lion saw, his horrid heart 
Was meeken'd, and he joind his sullen jt)y iiC5 

For music held the whole in perfect peace : 
Soft sigh'd the flute ; the tender voice wan heard, 
Warbling t \e varied heart; the woodlands round 
Applied their choir ; and winds and waters liow'd 
In consonance. Such were those prime of days. 270 
But now those white unblemishd manners, whence 
The fabl'ng poets took their golden age, 
Are found no more amid these iron times. 
These dregs of life ! now the distemperd mind 
Has lost that concord of harmonious powers, 275 

Which forms the soul of happiness ; and all 
Is ofl'the poise withir* : the passions all 
Have burst their bounds ; and reason, half CAtinct 
Or impotent, or else approving, sees 
I'he foul disorder. Senseless, and deformd, 280 

Convulsive anger storms at large ; or, paje 
And silent, settles into fell revenge. 
Base envy withers at another's joy, 
And hates that excellence it cannot reach 
Desponding (ear, of feeble fancies full, 286 

Weak and unmanly, loosens evr '•y power 
E'en love itself is bitterness t)f soul, 
A pensive anguish pining at the heart ; 
Or, sunk to sordid interest, feels no mora 
That noble wish t!»at never cloy'd d**sire, 308 

Which, selfish joy disdaining, seeks alone 



SPRING. U 

To bloss ihe dearer object of its flame. 
Hope sickens with extrav.iirance ; and jjrief, 
Of lile irnpationt, into madness swells ; 
Or n dead sdencc wastes the weepiijg hours. 20S 

Th'^so, and a thoui^and mix'd emotions more, 
Fron\ ever clianjring views of good and ill 
Form'cl infiiiiU;ly various, vex the mind 
With endless storm ; whenf^e, deeply rankling grows 
The partial thought, a listless unccncern, 300 

Coid, and avertmir from our neighbour's good •, 
Then darl< disgust, and hatred, winding wiles, 
Coward deceit, and ruffian violence • 
At iasl^ exiiael each social feeling, fell 
A-id joyU^ss inhumanity pervades 305 

And [iPtrifKis the heart. Nature disturbd 
Is deomd, vindictive, to have changed her course. 

Hence, in akl dusky time, a deluge came : 
When the deep-cleft disparting orb, that arcri d 
The central waters round, impetuous rushd, 310 

Witli universal burst, into the gulf, 
Aiid oer tiie high-piled hills of fractured earth 
Wide dasli d the waves, in undulation vast ; 
Ti'l, from the centre to the streaming clouds, 
A shoreless ocean tumbled round the globe. ^ SIH 

The Seasons since have, with severer sway, 
Oppress d a broken world: the Winter keen 
Shook forth his waste of snows : and Snni.ner shov 
His pestilential heats. Great Spring, before, 
Groen'd all the year; and fruits and blossoms blush'd, 
In social sweetness, on the selfsame bmigh. 3'il 

Pure wus tne temperate air ; an evon calm 
Perpetual reign d, save what the zephyrs biand 
Breathed o er tlie blue expanse : for then nor storms 
Were taught to blow nor hurricanes t^ rage ; 3^ia 

Bound sl<;|»t 'he waters; no sulphureous glooms 
Bwelld in the sky, and sent the lightning forth ; 
While sickly damps, and cold autumnal fogs, 
Aung not, relaxing, on thu springs of life 



12 SPRING. 

Bui now, of turbid elements tlie sport, 338 

From clear to cloudy toss"d, from hot to cold, 

And dry to moist, with inward-eating change, 

Our dro(>ping days are dwindled down to nought, 

Their period fmisird ere 'tis well begun. 

And ycL the wholesome herb neglected dies ; XV* 
Though u ith the pure exhilarating soul 
Of nutriintiit and health and vital powers. 
Beyond the search of art, 'tis copious bless'd. 
For, with hot ravine fired, enjanguined Man 
Is now become the lion of the plain, S-IO 

And worse. The Vt^olf, who from the nightly fold 
Fierce drags the bleating prey, ne'er drvink her milk, 
Nor wore her wanning fleece : nor has the steer, 
At whose strong chest the deadly tiger hangs, 
E'er plough'd for him. They too are temper'd high, 
With hunger stung and wild necessity, 34U 

N' r lodges pity in their shaggy breast^^ 
But Man, whom Nature fonn'd of milder clay, 
With every kind emotion in his heart, 
And taught alone to weep ; while from her lap 350 
She pour'» ten thousand delicacies, herbs, 
And fruits, as numerous as the drops of rain 
Or beams tliat gave mem birth : shall ho, fair firm ! 
Who wears sweet siniies, and lonks erect on heaven, 
E'er stoop to mingle with the prowling herd, 3*>o 

And dip nis tongue in gore ? the beast of prey, 
Blood-stain d, deserves to bleed ; but you, ye flucks, 
Wiiat have you done ; ye peaceful people, wlialj 
To merit death ? you, who have given us milk 
In luscious streams, and lent us your own coat 300 
Against tlie Winter's cold ? and the plain ox, 
That iiarmless, honest, guileless animal, 
In what has he oficnded .'' he, whose toil, 
Patient, and ever ready, clothes the land 
WilJi all the pomp of harvest ; shall lie bleed, 365 

And strugcrhrig groan beneath the cruel h-uida 
Even of the clown he feeds ? and that, perhaps, 



SPRING. M 

r<) swell lliv riot of the' autumnal feast, 

Won by his labour ? thus the feeling heart 

Would tenderly suggest : but 'tis enough, 371 

In this late age, adventurous, to have touch'd 

Light on the numbers of the Samian sage. 

High H.^aven forbids the bold presumptuous strain, 

Whose wisest will has fix'd us in a state 

That nius(. not yet to pure perfection risCj 37 S 

Now when the first foul torrent of the brooks, 
Bweird with the vernal rains, is ebb'd away. 
And, whitening, down their mossy-tinctured stream 
Descends the billowy foam : now is the time, 
Wi^^e yet the dark-brown water aids the guile, 380 
To tempt the trout. The well dissembled flv. 
The rod fine-tapeiing with elastic spring, 
Snatch'd from the hoary steed the floating line, 
And all thy slender watery stores prepare. 
But let not on thy hook the tortured worm 385 

Convulsive twist in agonizing folds ; 
Which, by rapacious hunger svi^allow'd deep, 
Gives, as you tear it from the bleeding breast 
Of the weak, helpless, uncomplaining wretch, 
Harsh pain and horror to the tender hand. 390 

When with his lively ray the potftnt sun 
Has pierced the streams, and roused the finny race, 
Then, issuing cheerful, to thy sport repair ; 
Chief should the western breezes cur''/ig play, 
And light o'er ether bear the shadowy clouds. 395 
High to their fount, this day, amid the hills. 
And vroodlands warbling round, trace up the brooka , 
The next, pursue their rocky-channel'd maze 
Down to the river, in whose ample wave 
Their little naiads love to sport at large. 400 

Just in the di'.bious point, where with the pool 
\b mix'd the trembling stream, or where it boili 
Around the stone, or from the hallow'd bank 
Reverted plays in undulating flow, 
Vnere throw, nice judging, th^ delusive fly ; 40S 

3 



14 SPRING. 

And, as you lead it round in artful curve, 
With eye attentive mark the springing game. 
Straight as above the surface of the flood 
They wanton rise, or urged by hunger leap. 
Then fix, witn gentle twitch, tiie barbed liook : 416 
Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank, 
And lothe shelving shore slow dragging some| 
With various hand proportion'd to their turce. 
If yet too young, and easily deceived, 
A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant rod, '415 
Him, piteous of his youth and the short space 
He has enjov'd the vital lii^ht of heaven. 
Soft uiseiiga(re, and bacli into the stream 
The soe-^-kled captive tnrow. But shimul you lure 
From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 420 
Of pendent trees, the monarch of the brook, 
Behoves you then to ply your finest art. 
Long time he, following cautious, scans the fly ; 
And oft attempts to seize it, but as oft 
Tlie dimpled water speaks his jealous fear. 425 

At last, while hap.'y o er the shad id sun 
Passes a cloud, he desperate takes the death, 
With sullen plunge. At once he darts along 
Deep-struck, and runs out all the lengthen d line : 
Then seeks the furthest ooze, the sheltering weed, 430 
The cavern'd bank, his old secure abode ; 
And flies aloft, and (iounces round the pool, 
indignant of the guile With yielding hand. 
That feels him still, yet to his furious course 
Gives way, you, now retiring, following now 435 

Acioss the stream, exhaust his idle rage : 
Till, floatinir broad upon his breathless side. 
And to his fate abandon "d, to the shore 
You gaily drag your unresisting prize. 439 

Thus pass the temperate hours ; but when the siin 
Shakes from his noondav thrfuie the scattering cloudSi 
tven sho(jting listless languor through the deeps; 
Then seek the bank where flowering elders crowds 



1 



SPRING k 

Where soattei'd wild the lily of the vale 

lis balmy essence breatlics, where cowslips hang 44S 

The <lfiwy iiead, where jmrple violets lurk, 

With all the lowly children of tlie shade : 

Or lie reclined beneath yon spreading ash, 

Hung o'er the sleep ; whence, borne on liquid wing, 

The sounding culver shocks ; or where the hawk, 450 

High in the be'>tling cliti' his eyry builds. 

There let the classic page thy fancy lead 

Through rural scenes ; such as the Mantuan swftiu 

Paints in the matchless harmony of song, 

Or catch thyself the landscape, gliding s'vift 455 

Atliwart imagination's vivid eye : 

Or by the vocal woods and waters lull'd, 

I And lost in lonely musing, in the dream, 

'.Confused, of careless scditude, where mix 
Ten thousand wandering images cf things, 4C0 

Sooth every gusi of passion into peace ; 
^11 but the swellings of the suften'd heart. 
That weaken, not disturb, tlie tranquil mind. 

Beliold von breathing- |)rospect Jjids th e Muse ^ 
Throw all her beauty forth. IJut who carTpaiiit 465 
Like Nature r Can imagination boast, 
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers.'' 
Or can it mix tliem with that matchless skill, 
And lose them in each other, as a])pears 
In Gvsry bud that blows .•' If fancy then 470 

Une«]ual fails beneath the pleasing task, 
Ah, what shaM language do? Ah, where find wordi 
Tinged with so many colours ; and whose power, 
To life approaching, may perfume my lays 
W,lh that fine oil, those aron)atic gales, 475 

That inoxhaustive flow continual round ' 

Yet, though successless, will the toil delight. 
Come then, ye virgins and ye youths, whose licart^ 
Have felt tlie raptures of refining love ; t k i "^i . 

And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my song! '='481' '* H 
Form d by the Graces, loveliness itsell"! 



16 SPRING. 

(;ome with tho^e downcast eyes, sr.date ar.d sweet, 
Those looks demure, that deeply pierce tho soul, 
Where, with the lii^ht of thoughtful reason mix'd. 
Shines lively fancy and the feeling heart -■ 485 

Oil, coiv.e ! and while the rosy-footed May 
Strals blushin^r on, togother let us tread 
Tho niornini'f dews, and gather in their prime 
Frof;h-bl!>oining flowers, to grace thy b'-aideu nair, 
Ar.d thy loved bosom that improves their sweetSv 490 

See, where the winding vale its lavish stores, 
Iniguous, spreads. See, how the lily drinks 
The latent rill, scarce oozing through the grass. 
Of growth luxuriant ; or the humid hank, 
in fair profusion, decks. Long let us walk, 495 

Where the breeze blows from yoji extended field 
Of blossomd beans Arabia cannot boast 
A fuller gale of joy, than, liberal, thence 
Breathes thruugii the sense, and tj»kes the ravish'd soul. 
Nor is the mead unworthy oithy fool, 500 

Full of fresh vcrdine and unnumber'd flowers, 

/The nsgliuence of Nature, wid^ and wild ; 

(Where, undisguised by mimic Art. she spreads 

'^Unbounded beauty to the rovinir e}e. 
Here their delicious task the fervent bees, 505 

In swarming uulHons, tend : around, athwart, 
Through the soft air, the busy nations fly, 
Cling to the bud, and, with inserted tube. 
Suck its prie essence, its ethereal soul ; 
And f)ft, with holder wing, they soaring dare 510 

The purple h^ath. or wliero the wild thyme grow*, 
'^nd yellow load theui with the luscious sprtil. x^ 

At length the finish d garden to the view 
lis vist.i.^ o[»ens, and its alleys green. 
Snatch d thro\igh the verdant umze, the hurried oyo 
Distracted wanders; now the bowerv walk 518 

Of covert close, v.'hcre scarce a speck oJday 
y.ills on ti»e loiigthcnd gloom, protricted sweeps. 
Novi meets tbe bending skv ; the river now 



SPRING. n 

Dimpling along, i\ic breezy ruffled lake, 5^ 

riie forest darkening round, the glittering spire» 
The' otliereal mountain, and the distant main. 
But why so far excursive ; when at hand. 
Along these blushing borders, bright with dew, 
And ill yon mingled wilderness of flowers, 523 

Fair-nanded Spring unbosoms every grace ; 
Throws out the snowdrop and the crocuj first 
The duisy, primrose, violet darkly blue, 
And polyaiithus of unnumber'd dyes ; 
il The yellow wallflower, stain'd with iron brown; 53C 
And lavish stock that scents the garden round : 
From tlie soft wing of vernal breezes shed. 
Anemones ; auriculas, enrich'd 
With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves; 
And full raiumculas of glowing rod. S35 

Then comes the tulip race, where Beauty plays 
Her idle freaks ; from family diffused 
To funily, as flies the father dust, 
TIio varied colours run ; and, while they break 
On the charm'd eye, the' exulting florist marks, 540 
With secret pride, the wonders of his hand. 
No gradual bloom is wanting ; from the bud. 
Firstborn of Spring, to Summer's musky tribes. 
Nor hyacinths, of purest virgin white, 
[>ow-i)ent, and 'flushing inward ; nor jonquilles, 546 
Of potent fragrance ; nor narcissus fair, 
As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still ; 
Nor broad carnations, nor gay spotted pinks; 
Nor, shower'd from every bush, the damask rose. 
Inf.riite numbers, delicacies, smells, 559 

With hues on hues expression can.iot paint. 
The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom. 

Hail, Source of Being I Universal Soul 
Of heaven and earth ! Essential Presence, hail ! 
Vo Thee I bond the knee ; to Thee my thoughts, 5M 
Continual, climb ; who, wi*h a master hand, 
Hast the great whole mto perfection touch'd. 
2^ 



18 SPRING 

By Thee ihe various vejreiative tribes, 

Wrapp'd in a filmy net and clad with loa.vos, 

Draw the live ether and imbibe the dew ; fiflO 

By Thee disposed into congenial soils, 

Stands each attractive plant, and sucks and swells 

The juicy tide ; a twining mass of tubts. 

At Thy command the vernal sun awakes 

The torpid sap, detruded to the root 5C8 

By wintry winds ; that now, in fluent dance, 

And lively fermentation mounting, spreads 

All this innumerous-colour'd scene of things. 

As risii.g from the vegetable world 
My theme ascends, with equal wing ascend, 59U 

My panting Muse ; and hark, how loud the woous 
Invite you forth in all your gayest trim. 
Lend me your song, ye nightingales • oh, pour , 
The mazy-running soul of melody 
Into my varied verse ! wiiile 1 deduce, rj75 

From the first note the hollow cuckoo sings, 
The sympliony of Spring, and touch a theme 
l/'nknown to fame, — the Passion of the Gioves. 

When first the soul of love is sent abroad. 
Warm through the vital air, and on the lieart 580 

Harmonious seizes, the gay troops begin, 
In gallant thouorht, to plume the painted wing , 
And try again the long forgotten stralii. 
At first fault warbled. But no sooner grows 
The soft infusion prevalent and wide, 5^5 

Than, all alive, at once their joy o'e;flows 
In music uncunfined. Up springs the lark, 
Shrill-voiced and loud, the messenger of morn*, 
Ere y(?t the shadow.^ fly, he mounted sings 
Amid the dawning clouds, and from their hauatB SDO 
Calk up the tuneful nations. Evry copse 
Deep tangled, tree irregular, and bush 
Bendinor with dewy moisture, o'er the heads 
Of the coy quiristers that !odgt within, 
^re prod'v^a) of harmony. The thrush 595 



SPRING. 19 

And woodlark, o'er the kino contending Ihron* 

Supetior heard, run lhroiii,rh the sweetest length 

Of notes ; when listening Philomela deigns 

To let them joy, and pur[)o^•es, in thought 

Elate, to make her night excel their day. o(lO 

The blackbird whistles from the thorny brake > 

The mellow bullfinch answers from the grove • 

Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze 

Poiit'd out profusely, silent. Joind to these 

Im^umerous songsters, in the freshening shade G05 

Ofnew-spru.ig leaves, then modulations mix 

Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw, 

And each harsh pipe, discordant heard alone. 

Aid t«e full concert: wh'!-^ the stockdove brei-tlies 

A melancholy murmur through the whole. 610 

*Tis love creates their melody, and all 
This waste of music is the voice of love ; 
That even to birds and beasts the tender arts 
Of pleasing teaches. Hence the glossy kind 
Try every wiiming way inventive love 615 

Can dictate, and in courtship to their mates 
^our forth their little souls first, wide around, 
W.lh distant awe, in airy rings they rove, 
Endeavouring by a thousand tricks to catch 
The cunning, conscious, half averted glance 620 

Of the regardless char.ner Should bhe seem 
Softening tlie least approvance to bestow. 
Their colours burnish, and, by hope in.spired. 
They brisk advance ; then on a sudden struck, 
Retire disorder'd ; then again ajjproaoh ; 0^ 

In ford rotation spread the spotted wing, 
And shiver every feather with desire. 

Connubia' leagues agre<:;d, to tiie deep woods 
They has?e away, all as their fancy leads, 
Pleasure, or food, or seiiret safety prompts ; 038 

That Nature's great cominniid may be obey'd : 
Nor ali the sweet sensations they perceive 
Ddulgcd in vain. Some to the hollv liedge 



20 SPRING 

Ncsthng repiiir. ,tiu1 to tlie thicket ^ome , 

SoiiiO to tlie luilo i)rotcction of tlie thorn 638 

fJominit thfcir feeble ofispring. The cleft tree 

Offers its kind conceahnent to a few, 

Their food its insects, and its moss their nests. 

Others apart, far in tlie grassy dale, 

Oi roughening waste, their humble texture weave. 640 

But most m woodland solitudes delight, 

In unfrequented glooms, or shaggy banks, 

Steep, and d'vided by a babbling brook. 

Whose murmurs sooth them all the livelong day, 

When by kind duty fix'd. Among the roots f>46 

Of hazel, pendent o'er the plaintive stream, 

They fiame the first foundation of their domes, 

Dry sprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid, 

And bound with clay together. Now 'tis nought 

But restless hurry through the busy air, 65C 

Beat by unnuinber'd wings. The swallow sweeps 

The slimy pool, to build his hanging house 

Intent. And often, from the careless back 

Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills 

Pluck hair and wool ; and oft, when unobserved, C5b 

Steal from the barn a straw : till, sof\ and warm. 

Clean and complete, their habitation grows. 

As thus the patient dam assiduous sits. 
Not to be tempted from her tender task. 
Or by sharp hunger or by smooth delight, 661J 

Tliough the whole loosen'd Spring around her blows. 
Her sympathizing lover takes his stand 
High on the' opponent bank, and ceaseless sings 
The tedious time away ; or else supplies 
Her place a moment, while she sudden flits COS 

To pick the scanty meal. The' appointed time 
With pious toil fulfill'd, the callow young, 
Wann'd and expanded into perfect life, 
Their brittle bondage break, and come to light, 
A hel])less family, demanding food 670 

With constant clamour : O, what passions then. 



SPRING 2 

Wfiat nipllin^ sentiments of kindly care, 

On the new oarent.s seize ! Away they fly 

Affectioiiale, and undesiring bear 

The most delicious morse! to their young , 675 

Which equally distributed, again 

Th:? search begins. E'en so a gentle pair, 

By fortune sunk, but form'd of generous mould, 

And charm d with cares beyond the vulgar breast, 

in some lone cot amid the distant woods, C80 

Sustain 'd alone by providential Heaven, 

Oft, as they weeping eye their ii.fant train^ 

Check their own ap^etitjs, and give them all 

Nor toil alone they scorn ; exalting love, 
By the great Father of the Spring inspired, G3& 

Gives instant courage to the fearful race, 
And, to the simple, art. With stealthy wing, 
Should some rude foot their woody haunts molest^ 
Amid a neighbouring bush tiiey silent drop, 
And whirring thence, as if alarm'd, deceive GOO 

The' unfeeling schoolboy. Hence, around liie head 
Of wandering swain, the white-wing d plover wheels 
Her suunJing flight, and then directly on 
In long excursion skims the level lawn 
To tempt him from her nest. The wild-duck, hence, 
O'er the rough moss, and o'er the trackless waste 696 
The heath-hen flutters, pious fraud . to lead 
The hot pursuij.g spaniel far astray. 

Be not the Muse ashamed here to bemoan 
Upr brothers of the grove, by tyrant Man ^00 

Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage 
From hberty confined and boundless air. 
Dull are the pretty slaves, their phiinage dull, 
Ragged, and all its brightening .ustre lost ; 
Nor is that sprightly wildue.ss in their notes, 7'15 

Which, clear and vigorous, v/arbles from the beech. 
then, ye friends of love and love-taught song, 
Spare the soft tribes, this barbarr us art forbear • 



22 SPRING. 

If on yixiT bosnin innocence can win, 

Music eno;age, or piely pyrsuadj. 710 

But let not chief the nightingale lan>cnt 
Her ruin'd car'?, tcvj delicately framed 
To brook the harsh confinement of the cage. 
Oft when, returning with her loaded bill, 
The' astonish'd mother finds a vacant nest, 71B 

By tlie hard hand^ of unrelenting clowns 
RobbM, ID the ground the vain provision falls; 
fler pinions ruiile, and low-dror ping scarce 
Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade ; 
Wiiere, all abandon'd to despair, she sings 720 

Her sorrows through tlie night ; and, on the bough, 
Sole-sitting, still at every dying fall 
Takes up again her lamentable strain 
Of winding woe ; till, wide around, the woods 
Sigh to her song, and with her wail resound. 725 

Buw now the fcat'ier'd youth their former bounds, 
Ardent, disdain ; and, weighing oft their wings, 
Demand the free possession of the sky : 
This one glad office mere, and then dissolves 
Parental love at once, now needless grown. 730 

Unlavish Wisdom never works in vh..n. 
'Tis on some evening, sunny, grateful, mild, 
When nought but balm is breathing througii the woods, 
With yellow lustro brig.)t., that the rew tribes 
Visit the spacious h'javens, and look abroad 735 

On Nature's common, far as they can see, 
Or wing, their range and pasture. O'er the b:"'ighs 
Dancing about, still at the giddy verge 
Their resolution fails ; their pinions still, 
In loose libraticui stretch'd, to trust the void 74U 

Trembling refuse : till down before them fly 
The pa.ent guides, and chide, exhort, command, 
Or push them off. IMie surging air r<'ceivo3 ■ 
Us? plumy burden ; and th.eir self-taught wings 
Winnow the waving element. On ground 715 



SPRING. 23 

Alighted, bolder uj) ajrain they le,' d, 
Farther and faither on, the lengthening flight, 
Till vanish'd every fear, and every power 
Roused into life and action, light in air 
The' -•-cquitted parents see their soaring race, 750 

And onco rejoicing never know them more. 

High from the summit of a craggy cliir. 
Hung o'er the deep, such as amazing frowns 
On utmost Kilda's* siiore, whose lonely race 
Resigii ?.I;e setting sun to Indian worlds, 75i 

The royal eagle draws his vigorous young, 
Strong-pounced, and ardent v/ith paternal fire. 
Now fit to raise a kingdom of tlieii own, 
He drive:? them from his fort, the towering seat, 
For ages, of iiis cnipire ; which, in peace, 760 

Unstain'd lie holds, while many a league to sea 
He wings his course, and preys in distant isles. 

Should J my steos turn to the rural seat, 
Whose lof*y elms and venerable oaks 
Invite the rook, who high amid the boughs, 7{S 

In early Spring, his airy city builds. 
And ceaseless caws imusive ; there, well pleased, 
I might the various polity survey 
Of the mi.-^'d household kind. The careful hen 
Calls all her chirping family around, 770 

Fed a..d defended by the fearless cock ; 
Whose breast with ardour flames, as on he walkg, 
Graceful, and crows deriance. In the pond, 
The finely checker'd duck, before her train, 
Rows garrulous. The stately sailing swan 775 

Gives out his snowy plumago to the gale ; 
And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet 
Bears forward fieice, and guards his osier isle, 
Protective of his young. The turkey nigh. 
Loud threatening, reddens ; while the peacock spreads, 
Wis every-coluur'd glory to the sun 781 

• llie Airthest of the western isia uds of Scotlar 



B4 SPRING. 

And swims in radian', majesty along 

O'er the whole homely scene the cooing dove 

Flies thick in amorous cliase, and wanton rolls 

I'he g!ancini( eye, and tnrns the changeful neck. 795 

While thus tlie gentle tenants of the shado 
Icduloe their purer loves, the rougher world 
Of brutes below rush furious into flame 
And fierce desire. Through all his lusty veins 
The bull, deep-srorciid, the raging passion feels. 7Xi 
Of pasture sick, and negligent of food. 
Scarce seen, he wades ainong the yellow broom, 
While o'er his aiuple sides the rambling sprays 
Luxuriant shoot ; oi- through the mazy wood 
Dejected wanders, nor the' enticing bud 79S 

Crops, though it presses on his careless sense. 
And oft, in jealous maddening fancy wrapp'd, 
He seeks the fight ; and, idly butting, feigns 
His lival gored in every knotty tnmk. 
Hun should he meet, the bellowing war begins ; 800 
Their eyes flash fury ; to the hollowd earth, 
Whence the sand flies, they mutter bloody deeds, 
And, groaning deep, the' impetuous battle mix : 
While the fair htlfer, balmy -breathnig, near, 
Stands kindling up their rage. The trembling steed, 
With this hot impulse seized in every nerve, 806 

Nor heeds the rein, nor hears the sounding thoijjf • 
Blows are not felt ; but, tossing high his head. 
And by the well known joy to distant plains 
Attracted strong, all wild he bursts away ; 810 

Oer rocks and woods and craggy mountains flies : 
And, neighing, on the' aerial summit takes 
The' exciting gale ; then, steep-descending, cleavec 
The headlong torrents foaming down the hills, 
K'en where the madness of the straitcn'd stream 81.5 
Turns in black eddies round : such is thp. force 
With which his frantic heart and sinews swell. 

Nor undelighted by the boundless Spring 
^re iJie broad monsters of the foaraktg de«» 



SPRING. 2i 

From the ueep oo^e and gelid cavern roused^ 820 

They flounce and tumble in unwieldly joy. 

, Dire wore the strain, and dissonant, to sing 

r The crue'. raptures of the savage kind : 

How by this flame their native wrath sublimed, 

Tltoj' roam, amid the fury of their heart, 8^ 

•j he far resounding waste in fiercer bands. 

And growl their horrid loves. But this the theme 

1 sing, enraptured, to the British Fair, 

Forbids, and leads me to the mountain brow, 

Wiierc sits the shepherd on the grassy turf, 830 

Inhaling, healthful, the descending sun. 

Arcund hun feeds his many-bleating flock, 

Of various cadence ; and his sportive lambs, 

This way and that convolved, in friskful glee, 

Their frolics play. And now the sprightly race 835 

Invites them forth ; when swift, the signal given, 

They start away, and sweep the massy mound 

That runs around the hill ; the rampart once 

Of iron v.ar, in ancient barbarous times, 

When disunited Britain ever bled, 840 

Lost in eternal broil : ere yet she grew 

To tnis deep-laid indissoluble state. 

Where Wealth and Commerce lift their golden heftds 

And oer our labours Liberty and Law, 

Impartial, watch ; the wonder of a world ! 845 

Wliat is tnis mighty breath, ye sages, say. 
That, in a powerful language, felt, not heard. 
Instructs the fowls of heaven .'' and througli their broa<ft 
These arts of love rliffuses ? What, but God !* 
Inspiring God I who, boundless Spirit all, 850 

And unremitting Energy, pervades. 
Adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole. 
He ceaseless works alone ; and yet aJorio 
Seems not to work : with such perfection frHmed 
Is this complex stupendous scheme of things. 666 

But, though conceald, to every purer eye 
The' informmg Author m his works appears : 
3 



20 SPRING. 

CliieP, lovely Spring, in thee, and thy soft scenM, 
The Siniiing God is seen ; while water, earthy 
And air attest his bounty ; which exalts 868 

The brute creation to this finer tho\ight 
And annual melts their undesigning heart* 
Profusely thus in tenderness and joy. 

Still let my song a nobler note assume, 
And sing the' infusive force f)f Spring on man. SSh 
When heaven and earth, as if contending, vie 
To raise his being and serene his soul, 
Can he forbear to join the general smile 
Of Nature ? Can fierce passions vex his breast, 
While every gale is peace, and every grove 870 

Is melody ? hence ! from the bounteous walka 
Of flowing Spring, ye sordid sons ol" carta, 
Hard, and unfeeling of another's woo. 
Or only lavisa to yourselves ; away ! 
But come, ye generous minds, in whose wide thought, 
Of all his works, creative Bounty burns 876 

With warmest beam ; and en your oj)en front 
And liberal eye, sits, from his dark retreat 
Inviting modest Want. Nor, till invoked, 
,Can restless goodness v/ait ; your active s'^a.rch 880 
Leaves no coid wintry corner unexplored ; 
Like silent-working Heaven, surprising oft 
The lonely heart with unexpected good. 
For you the roving Spirit of the wind 
Blows Spring abroad ; for you the teeming cloudA 885 
Descend in gladsome plenty o'er the world ; 
And the sun sheds his kindest rays for you, 
\e flower of human race ! in these green days, 
Reviving Sickness lifts her languid head ; 
Life flows afresh; and young-eyed Health exalt* 890 
The whole creation round. Contentment walks 
The sunny glade, and feels an inward bliss 
Bprin!^ o'er his mind, beyond the power of kingf 
To purcnase. Pure serenity ajvace 
Induces thought and contemplation still 8M 



L 

|P SPRING. Sr? 

^y swifl degrees the love of Nature works, 
And warms llie bosom ; till at last, sublimed 
To rapture and enthusiastic heat, 
We feel the present Ueity, aiid taste 
The joy of Goi> to see a liajjpy world! 900 

These arc the sacred feelings of thy heart, 
Thv heart inform'd by reason's purer ray, 

:;.0 Lyttelton. the friend ! tliy passions thus 
And meditations vary, as at large, 
Courting the Muse, through Hagley Park thou stray'st; 
Thy British Tempo ! there along the dale, 906 

With woods oerhung, and shagg'd with mossy rocks, 
Whence on each hand the gushing waters play. 
And down the rough cascade white dashing fall, 
Or gleam in lengtliend vista through the trees, 910 
You silent steal ; or sit beneath the shade 
Of solemn oaks, that tuft the swelling mounts 
Thrown graceful round by nature's careless hand, 
And pensive listen to the various voice 
Of rural peace : the iierds, the flocks, the birds, 915 
The hollow-whisjiering breeze, the plaint of rilis 
That, purling down amid the twisted roots 
Which creep around, their dewy murmurs shake 
On the sooth'd ear. From these abstracted oft. 
You wander throutrh the philosophic world ; 9520 

Where in bright train continual wonders rise, 
Or to the curious or the pious eye. 
And oft, conducted by historic truth. 
You tread the long extent of backward time : 
Planning, with warm benevolence of mind 923 

And honest zeal, unwarp'd by party rage, 
Britannia's weal ; how from tlie venal gulf 
To raise her virtue, and her arts revive. 
Or, t-rning thence thy view, these graver thoughts 
The Muses charm : while, with sure taste refined, 930 
You draw the' inspiring breath of ancient song; 
Till noD.y rises, emulous, thy own. 
**«'rhaps thy loved Lucinda shares thy welk, 



28 , SPRING. 

With soul to thine attuned. Then Nature all 

Wear? to the lover's eye a look of love : 93S 

And all the tumult of a guilty world, 

Toss'd by uuirenerous passions, sinks away. 

The tender heart is animated peace ; 

And as it pours its copious treasures forth, 

Ii varied converse, soflenincr every theme, 940 

\ou, frequent pausing, turn, and from her eyes, 

Where moeken'd sense, and amiable grace, 

And lively sweetness dwell, enraptured, drink 

That nameless spirit of ethereal joy. 

Unutterable happiness ! which love 945 

Alone bestows, and on a favour'd few. 

Meantime you gain the height, from whose fair brow 

The bursling prospect sprea<]s immense around : 

And snatchd o'er hill and dale, and wood and lawn, 

And verdant field, and darkening heath between, 950 

And villages embosom'd soft in trees, 

And spiry towns Ly surging columns mark'd 

Of household smoke, your eye excursive roams : 

"^A'ide-stretcamg from the hall, in whose kind haunt 

The Hospitable Genius lingers still, QhS 

To where the broken landscape, by degrees 

Ascending, roughens into rigid hills ; 

O'er which the Cambrian mountains, like far cloudii 

That skirl the blue horizon, dusky rise. 

Flush'd by tlie spirit of the genial year, 9G0 

Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom 
Shoots, less and less, th'^ live carnation round ; 
Her l:ps blush deeper sweets ; she breathes of youth ; 
The shining moisture swells into her eyes, 
In brighter (low ; her wishing bosom heaves J)65 

With palpitations wild ; kind tumults seize 
Hor veins, and all her yielding soul is lovo. 
From the keen gaze her lover turns away. 
Full of the dear ecstatic power, and sick 
With sighing languishment. Ah then, ye fail ' 970 
Be grea'.ly cautious of your sliding hearts 



SPRING. » 

>are not tfie' infections sigli ; the pleadinof look, 
'owncast and low, in meek submission diess'd, 

ut full of guile. Let not the fervent tongue, 
rom^it to deceive, with adulation smoot'i, 97S 

ain on your purposed will. Nor in the bower, 
Where woodbines flaunt, and roses shed a couch, 
'Tiile Evening draws her crimson curtains round, 

rust your soft minutes with betraying Man. 

And let the' aspiring youth beware of love, 980 

Tthe smooth glance beware ; for 'tis too late, 

hen on his heart the torrent softness pours ; 
Then wisdom prostrate lies, and fading fame 
Dissolves m air away ; while the fond soul, 
'Vrapp'd in gay visions of unreal bliss, 98B 

Still paints the' illusive form ; the kindling grace ; 
The' enticing smile ; the modest seeming eye. 
Beneath whose beauteous beams, belying heaven, 
Lurk searcl'.less cunning, cruelty, and death: 
And still, false-warbling in his cheated ear, 990 

Her siren voice, enchanting, draws him on 
To guileful shore.** and meads of fatal joy. 

E'en present, in the very lap of love 
Inglorious laid ; while music flows around. 
Perfumes, and oils, and wine, and wanton hours ; 995 
Amid the roses fierce Repentance rears 
Her snaky crest ; a quick returning pang 
Shoots through the conscious heart ; where honour stiii 
And great design, against the' oppressive load 
Of luxiiry, by fits, impatient heave. 1000 

But absent, what fantastic woes, aroused, 
Rage in each thouglit, by restless musing fed, 
Chill the warm cheek, and blast the bloom of life ? 
Neglected fortune flies ; and, sliding swift, 
Prone into ruin, fall his scorn'd aff'airs. "JOb 

Tis nouglit but gloom around : the darken'd su» 
Loses his light. The rosy-bosom'd Spring 
To weeping fancy pines ; and yon bright arcn, 
3 into a duskv vault 
3* 



50 SPRING 

All Nature fades extinct ; and she alone, IC 

Heard, felt, and seen, possesses every tliought. 
Fills every sense, and pants in every vein 
Books are but formal dulness, tedious friends ; 
And sad amid the social band he sits, 
Lonely, and inattentive. From his tongue 
The' unfinish'd period falls: while, borne away 
On swelling thought, his wafted spirit flies 
To the vain bosom of his distant fair ; 
And leaves the semblance of a lover, fix'd 
In melancholy site, with head declined, 
And love-dejected eyes. Sudden he starts. 
Shook from his tender trance, and restless runs 
I To glimmering shades and sympathetic glooms ; 
Where the dun umbrage o'er the falling stream. 
Romantic, hangs ; there through the pensive dusk 
Strays, in heart-thrilling meditation lost, 1026 

Indulging all to love : or on the bank 
Thrown, amid drooping lilies, swells the breeze 
With sighs unceasing, and the brook with tears. 
Thus in soft anguish he consumes the day, 1030 

Nor quits his deep retirement, till the Moon 
Peeps through the chambers of the ileecy east, 
Enlighten 'd by degrees, and in her train 
Leada on (he gentle Hours ; then forth he walks, 
Beneath the trembling languish of her beam, 1036 
With sollen'd soul, and woes the bird of eve 
To mingle woes with his: or, while the world 
And all the sons of Care lie hushd in sleep. 
Associates with the midnight shadows drear j 
And, sighing to the lonely taper, pours 1040 

His idly-tortured heart into the page. 
Meant for the moving messenger of love ; 
Where rapture burns on rapture, every line 
With rising frenzy fired. But if en bed 
Delirious flung, sleep from his pillow flies, \04h 

All nifht he tosses, nor the b-'liny power 
In any posture finds , till the gray Morn 



SPRING. 3 

L)Aa her pnle lustre on the paler wretch, 

ExaniiiKite by love ; and then perhaps 

Exhausted Nature sinks awhile to rest, 105C 

Still interrupted by distracted dreams, 

That o'er the sicli imagination rise, 

And ir black colours paint the mimic scene. 

Oft wi.il the' enchantress of his soul he talks ; 

Sometiines in crowds distress'd ; or if retired lOoii 

To secret winding flower-enwoven bowers, 

Far from the dull impertinence of Mar, 

Just as he, credulous, his endless cares 

Begins to loose in bhnd oblivious love, 

Snatch d from her yielded hand, he knows not how, 

Through forests huge, and long untraveld heaths lOGl 

With desolation brown, he wanders waste, 

In night and tempest wrapp'd : or shrinks aghast. 

Back, from the bending precipice ; or wades 

The turbid stream below, and strives to reach 10G5 

The further shore ; where succourless and sad, 

She witli extended arms his aid implores ; 

But strives in vain ; borne by the' outrageous Hood 

To distance down, he rides the ridgy wave, 

Or whehn'd beneath the boiling eddy sinks. 1070 

These are the charming agonies of love, 
Whose misery delights. But through the heart 
Should jealou?y its venom once diffuse, 
Tis then delightful misery no more, 
But agony unmix'd, incessant gall, 107b 

Corroding every thouglit, and blasting all 
Love's paradise. Ye fairy prospects, then, 
Ye beds of roses, and ye bowers of joy. 
Farewell ! ye gleamings of departed peace, 
Shine o\it your last ' the yellow-tinging plague 080 
Internal vision taints, and in a night 
Of livid gloom imagination wraps. 
An, then! instead of love-enliveu'd cheeks, 
Of sunnv features, and of ardent eyes 
>ViLii Howmg rapture bnglit, dark looks succeed, I06& 



S2 SPRING. 

BuiTused and glaring with untender fire , 

A clouded aspect, and a burning cheek, 

Where the whole poison'd soul, malignant, sits 

And frightens love away. Ten thousand fears 

Invented wild, ten thousand frantic views 1090 

Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms 

For which he melts in fondness, eat him up 

With fervent anguish and consuming rage. 

In vain reproaches lend their idle aid, 

Deceitful pride, and resolution frail, 1095 

Giving false peace a moment. Fancy pours, 

Afresh, her beauties on his busy thought. 

Her first endearments twining round the soul, 

With all the witchcraft of ensnaring love. 

Straight the fierce storm involves his mind anew, ilOO 

Flames through the nerves, ana ooils along the veins • 

While anxioas doubt distracts the tortured heart • 

For s'en iho sad assurance of his fears 

Were ease 1o what he feels. Thus the warm youth, 

Whom love deludes mto his thorny wilds, 1105 

Through tiuwery-tempting paths, or leads a life 

Of fever'd rapture or of cruel care; 

His brightest aims extinguish'd all, and all 

His lively moments running down to waste. 

But happy th^y ! the happiest of their kind ! 1110 
Whom gentler stars unite, and In one fate 
Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend. 
Tis not the coarser tie of human laws, 
Unnatural otl and foreign to the mind. 
That binds their peace, but harmony itself, 1115 

Atluning all their passions into love ; 
Wjjcre friendship full exerts her softest power, 
Perfect esteem enlivened by desire 
Inettable, and sympathy of soul ; 
Thoui^ht meeting thought, and will preventing will, 
With boundless confidence : for nought but love IISI 
Can answer love, and render bliss secure. 
Let him, unirenerous, who, alone intent 



SPRING. 33 

To bir.ss lunisfclf, from sordid parents buys 
I'he loaiJuug virgin, in eternal care, 1125 

Well merited, coi.sume his nights and days 
Let ba'-harous nations, whose inhuman love 
Is wild desire, fierce as the suns they feel ; 
Let eastern tyrants from the light of heaven 
Seclude their bosom-slaves, meanly possessed 1130 
Of a more lifeless, violated form ; 
^.. While those whom love cements in holy faith, 
*' And equal transport, free as Nature live, 
Disdaining fear. What is the world to them, 
lis pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense all! 1135 

Who in each other clasp whatever frir 
High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can wish ; 
Sojnething ihan beauty dearer, should they look 
Or on the mind, or mind-illumined face ; 
Truth, goodness, honour, harmony, and love, 1140 
The riciiest bounty of indulgent Heaven. 
Meantime a sniiung offspring rises round, 
And mingles both their graces. By degrees. 
The human blossom blows ; and every day, 
Soft as it roll i along, shows some new ciiarni, 1145 
The father's lustre, and the mother's bloom. 
Then infant reason grows apace, and calls 
F<;r the kind hand of an assiduous care. 
Delightful task ! to rear the tender thought, 
To teach the young idea how to shoot, 1150 

To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind. 
To br<!atlie the' enlivening spirit, and to fix 
yThe generous purpose in the glowing b'-east. 
Oh, speak the joy ! ye, whom the sudden tear 
Surprises often, while you look around, 1155 

And nothing strikes your eye but si^rhts of bliss, 
A.11 various Nature pressing on the heart : 
An elegant sufficiency, content, 
Itetirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, 
Ease and alternate labour, useful life, llCO 

Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven' 



34 SPRING. 

Theso are the matchless joys of virtuous 1ot€«; 

And thus their nioinents fly. The Seasons thni, 

As cease'oss round a jarring world tliey roll, 

Still find thein happy; and consenting Spring IIA 

Sheds her own rosy garland on their heads . 

Till even'.ng comes at last, serene and mild; 

When after the long vernal day of life, 

Enamour'd n^ore, as more remembrance swolla 

With many a proof of recollected love, 117® 

Together down they sink in social sleep ; 

Together freed, fheir gentle spirits fly 

To scenes whore love and bKes immoxtaJ rei^a. 



I. 



SUMMER 



TJ,o -».u — i»- v-^o«|e<^. Invociition. Address to Mr. Dodlngton 
An inlrddiic'ory relloclion on the motion of the heavenly hodiop; 
whence ihi i'.'iccasion of the aeaswiis. As the f.ice of Nature in 
this season is almi>sl uniform, llie progress of the poem i« a dp- 
Bcnpiiori of a summer's (lay. The dawn. 8un-rising. Hymn ta 
the sun. Forenoon. Summer insects described. Haymaking. 
Sheepsliearini(. Noonday. A woodland rei real. Group of herd* 
a.n.1 '•T.-v.iis] ;^A solemn grove : how it alVicts a conlemphitive mind, 
A caltira^., i.,i ru.ie scene. View of yumiiier in the torrid zon^s 
, Storm of thunder and lightning. A tale. 'I'lie stotm over, a se- 
' reiie afternoon. Bathing. Hour of walking. Transition to the 
prosj-ect of a rich well cultivated country; which introduces a 
punsv^'ic <>n (ireut Britain. Sun-set. Evening. N'iglil. Sum- 
mer meteors. A cuniet. The whole concluding with the praiM 
of j)hilo8ojiliy. 



From brightening fields of ether fair disclosed, 

Cliiki of tlie Sun, refulgent, Summkr conies, 

In y)ride of youth, and felt through Nature's depth 

He coincs ictended by the sultry Flours, 

And ever fanning breezes, on his way ; 15 

Willie, from his ardent look, the turning Spring 

Averts her blushful face ; and earth, and skies, 

All smiling, to his hot dominion leaves. 

Hence, let me haste into the midwood shade, 
Where scarce a sunbeam wanders through tlie gioom ; 
And on the dark-green grass, beside the brink H 

Of liaiinted stream, that by the roots of oak 
1 lolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large, 
Anci s'.ng ih^ glories of the circling year. 

Come, Inspiration ! from thy hermit-seat, 15 

By mortal seldom found : may Fancy dare, 
From thy fix'd serious eye, and raptured glance 
Shot on surrounding heaven, to steal one look 
CredrJve ."tv.e Poet, every power 
Exalting to an ecstasy of soul. 20 



36 SUMMER. 

And tliou, my youthful Muse's early frient, 
In whom the human graces all unite 
Pure liijht of mind, and tenderness of heart : 
Genius, and wisdom ; the gay social sense, 
By decency chastised ; goodness and wit, 
In scldoin-meeting harmony combined ; 
Unbioiiiishd honour, and an active zeal 
For Britain's glory, Liberty, and Man ; 
V) Dudington ! attend my rural song, 
'otoop to my theme, inspirit every line, 30 

And tcacli me to deserve thy just applause. 

With what an awful world-revolving power 
Were first the unwieldly planets launch'd along 
The' illimitable void ! thus to remain. 
Amid the flux of many thousand years, 35 

I'hat oft has swept the toiling race of men 
And all their laboured motmments away, 
Firm, unremitting, matchless, in their course ; 
To the kind-temper'd change of night and day, 
And of the seasons ever stealing round, 40 

Minutely ftiithful : such the' All-perfect Han J ! 
That poised, impels, and rules the steady whole. 

When now no more the' alternate Twins are nred 
And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze. 
Short is the doubtful emmre of the night ; 4»^ 

And soon, observant of approaching day, 
The meek-eyed Morn appears, mother of dews. 
At first faint-gleaming in the dappled east: 
Till far o'er ether spreads the widening glov(7 ; 
And, fnnn before th.e lustre of her face, 50 

White break the clouds away. With quicken'd step, 
Brown Night retires : young Day pours in apace. 
And opens all the lawny prospect wide. 
The dripping rock^ the mountain's misty top 
Swell on the sight, and brighten with the dawn. Si 
Kl'ie, through the dusk, the smoking currents shine 
And from the bladed field the fearful hare 
Lunps, awkward ; while along the forest glade 



1 

10 1 



SUMMER. 37 

The wild • -;t;i blip, and often turning gaze 
At early passeii^^ .5. Music awakes GO 

Tiie nat vy voioe},)f undissenibled joy ; 
And tl'.»'.;k around the woodland hymns arise. 
Roused by the cock, the soon-clad slicpherd leaves 
His mossy cottage, where with Peace he dwells ; 
And from the 7rowded fold, in order, drives 60 

His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn. 

Falsely luxurious i will not Man awake ; 
And, s[)ringing from the bed of sloth, enjoy 
Tlie coot, the fragrant, and the silent hour, 
To meditation due and sacred song .'' 70 

For is there ought in sleep can charm the wise '' 
To lie in dead oblivion, losing half 
The fleetmg moments of too short a life ; 
Total extinction of the' enlighten'd soul ! 
Or else, to feverish vanity alive, 75 

Wilder'd, and tossing through distempered dreams? 
Who would in such a gloomy state remain 
Longer than Nature craves ; when every Muse 
And every blooming pleasure wait without, 
To bless the wildly devious morring walk .' 80 

But yonder comes the powerful King of Day, 
Rejoicing in the east. The lessening cloud. 
The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow 
Illumed with fluid gold, his near approach 
Betoken glad. Lo ! now, apparent all, 85 

Aslant the dew-bright earth, and colour'd air, 
He looks in boundless majesty abroad ; 
And sheds the shining day, that burnish'd plays 
On rocks and hills and towers and wandering streams, 
High gleaming from afar. Prime cheerer, Light ! 90 
Of all material beings first and best ! 
Efflux divine ! Nature's resplendent robe ' 
Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapp'd 
In unessential gloom ! and thou, O Sun ! 
Soul of surrounding worlds ' in whom best seen 96 
Shines out thy Maker ! may I sing of thee ? 



38 SUMMER. 

'Tis by thy secret, strong, attractive force, 
Aa with a chain mdissoiubje bouua, 
1 hy system rolls entire : tVoin the far bouru 
Of utmost Saturn, wheeling wide his round 100 

Of thirty years, to Mercury, whose disk 
Can scarce be caught by philosophic eye, 
Lost in the near elFulgence of thy blaze. 

Informer of the planetary train ! 
Without whose quickening glance their cumbrous orbi 
Were brute unlovely mass, inert and dead, IOC 

And not, as now, the green abodes of life ! 
How many forms of being wait on thee ! 
Inhaling spirit ; from the' unfetter'd mind, 
By thee sublimed, down to the daily race, 116 

The mixing myriads of thy setting beam. 

The vegetable world is also thine, 
Parent oj Seasons ! who the pomp precede 
That waits thy throne, as through thy vast domain, 
Annual, along the bright ecliptic road, 115 

In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime. 
Meantime the' expecting nations, circled gay 
With all the various tribes of foodful earth, 
fmplore thy bounty, or send grateful up 
A common hymn : while, round thy beaming car, 130 
High seen, the Seasons lead, in sprightly dance 
Harmonious knit, the rosv-finger'd Hours, 
The Zephyrs floating loose, the timely Rains, 
Of bloom ethereal the light footed Dews, 
And sotien d into joy the sijrlv Storms. 125 

These, in successive turn, with lavish hand, 
Shower every beauty ft^^erv fragrance shower, 
Herbs, flowers, and fruits , and, kindling at thy touch. 
From land to land is flush'd the vernal yenr 

Nor to the surface of emiven'd earth, 13t 

Graceful with hills and dab'R. aiid leafy woods, 
Her liberal tresses, is thy force confined : 
But, to the bowel'd cavern -iarting deep, 
The nii\ieral kinds confess thy luiglay liowa? 



SUMMER. 39 

Efiul^ent, lience the veiny marble shines ; 133 

flence Labour draws his tools ; hence burnish d Wai 
Gleams on the day ! the nobler works of Peace 
Hence bless mankind, and generous Commerce binds 
The round of nations in a golden chain. 

The' unfruitful rock itself, impregn'd by thee, 140 
In dark retirement forms the lucid stone. 
The lively diamond drmks thy purest rays, 
Collected light, compact ; that, polish'd briglit, 
And all its native lustre let abroad. 
Dares, as it sparkles on the fair one's breast, 145 

With vain ambition emulate her eyes. 
At thee the ruby lights its deepening glow, 
And with a waving radiance inward flames. 
From thee the sapphire, solid ether, takes 
Its hue cerulean ; and, of evening tinct, IfiO 

The purple-streaming amethyst is thine. 
With tTiy own smile the yellow topaz biirns. 
Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring, 
When first she gives it to the soutliern gale, 154 

Than the green emerald shows. But, all combined, 
Thick through the whitening opal play thy beaniB ; 
Or, flying several from its surface, form 
A trembling variance of revolving hues. 
As the site varies in the gazer's hand. 

The very dead creation, from thy touch, 160 

Assumes a mimic life. By thee refined, 
III brighter mazes the relucent stream 
Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt, 
Projecting 1 orror on the blacken'd flood. 
Softens at thy return. The desert joys, 160 

Wildly, through all his melancholy bounds. 
Rude ruins glitter ; and the briny deep, 
Seen from some pointed promontory's top. 
Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge, 
Restless, reflects a floating gleam. But tius, 176 

^nd all the much transported Muse can sing 



to SUMMER. 

Are to thy boauty, aignity, and use, 
Unoqual far, great delegated source 
Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below! 

How shall I then attempt to sing of Him ! 17S 

Who, Light Hiirself, in uncreated light 
Invested deej), dwells awfully retired 
From mortal eye or angel's purer ken ; 
VVliose single smile has, from the first of time, 
Fiird, overflowing, all those lamps of heaven ISO 

That beam for ever through the boundless sky . 
But, should lie hide his face, the' astonishd sun 
And all the' extinguish'd stars would loosening reel 
Wide from their spheres, and Chaos come again. 

And yet was every faltering tongue of Man, 185 
Almihhty Fathf.k ! silent in thy praise ; 
Thy Works themselves would raise a general voice, 
E'en in the depih of solitary woods 
By human foot untrod ; proclaim thy power, 
And to the cluur celestial Thek resound, 10.) 

The' eternal cause, support, and end of all ! 

To me be Nature's volume bread display 'd , 
And to peruse its all instructing page, 
Or, haply catching ins[)iration thence, 
Some easy passage raptured to translate, li^S 

My sole deliglit ; as through the falling gloom* 
Pensive 1 stray, or with the rising dawn 
On Fancy's eagle wing excursive soar. 

Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent sun 
Melts into limpid air the high-raised clouds, 200 

And morning fogs, tlial hover'd round the hills 
In party-colourd bands ; till wide unvcild 
The face of Nature shines, from where earth seems, 
Far stretch'd around, to meet the bending spheie 

Half in a blush of clustering roses lost, 205 

Dew-dropping Coolness to the shade retires ; 
There, on the verdant turf, or llowery bed, 
Qy gelid founts and careless rills to muse 



■ Whilo tyrant Heat, dispreading through the sky, 
With rapid sway, his burning influence darts 210 

On man and beast and herb and tepid stream. 

Who can unpitying see the flowery race, 
Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom resign, 
Before the parching beam ? so fade the fair, 
When fevers revel through their azure veins. 215 

But one, the lofty follower of the sun. 
Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves. 
Drooping all night ; and, when he warm returns, 
Points her enamour'd bosom to his ray. 

Home, from his morning task, the swain retreats ; 
His flock before him stepping to the fold : 321 

While the full-udder'd mother lows around 
The cheerful cottage, then expecting food. 
The food of innocence and health ! the daw, 
The rook, and magpie, to the gray grown oaks 225 
That the calm village in their verdant arms, 
Sheltering, embrace, direct their lazy flight : 
Where on the mingling boughs they sit embower'd, 
All the hot noon, till cooler hours arise. 
Faint, underneath, the household fowls convene ; 230 
And, in a corner of the buzzing shade. 
The housedog with the vacant greyhound lies, 
Outstretch'd and sleepy. In his slumbers one 
Attacks the niglitly thief, and one exults 
O'er hill and dale ; till, waken'd by the wasp, 235 

They starting snap. Nox* shall the Muse disdain 
To let the little noisy summer race 
Live in her lay, and flutter through her song. 
Not mean though simple ; to the sun allied, 
From him they draw their animating fire. 2-iQ 

Waked by his warmer ray, the reptile young 
Come wing'd abroad ; by the light air upborne, 
Lighter, and full of soul. From every chink, 
And secret corner, where they slept away 
Vhc wintry storms ; or, rising from their touibs, 241 
4* 



12 SUxMMER. 

To higher life ; by myriads, forth at once, 

Swarming they pour ; of all the varied hues 

Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose, 

Ten thousand forms, ten thousand d'fferent tribes 

People the blaze. To sunny waters some 25ii 

By fatal instinct fly ; where on the pool 

They sportive wheel-, or, sailing down the stream. 

Are snatch d immediate by the quick-eyed trout, 

Or darting salmon. Through the greenwood glado 

Some love to stray ; there lodged, amused, and fed, 

In the fresh leaf Luxurious, others make 2.'ib 

The Ui^^itds their choice, and visit every flower 

And every latent herb : for the sweet task, 

To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap, 

In what soft beds, their young yet undisclosed, 20(1 

Employs their tender care. Some to the house. 

The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight ; 

Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling cheese ; 

Oft, inadvertent, from the millcy stream 

They meet thoir fate ; or, weltering in the bowl, 265 

With powerless wings around them wrappd, expire. 

But chief to heedless flies the window proves 
A constant death ; where, gloomily retired. 
Tiie villain spider lives, cunning and fierce, 
Mixture abhorr'd ! amid a mangled heap 270 

Of carcasses, in eager watch he sits, 
O'erlooking all his waving snares around. 
Near the dire cell the dreadless wanderer oft 
Passes, as oft the ruffian shows his front, 
The prey at last ensnared, he dreadful darts, 275 

With rapid glide, along the leaning line ; 
And, fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs. 
Strikes backward grimly pleased ; the fluttering vs-'ing 
And shriller sound declare extreme distress, 
And ask tlie helping hospitable hand. 29^ 

P»,esounds the living surface of trie ground 
Ni/f undelightful is the ceaseless hum 



SUMiMKR 43 

To hnti who muses throujrh the woodf at noon ; 
Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclined, 
With half-shut eyes, beneath the floating shade 285 
O^ willows gray, Cj.ose crowding o'er the brook. 

Gradual, from t/iese what numerous kinds descend, 
Evading e'en the microscopic eye ! 
Tull Nature swarms with life ; one wondrous ma,f« 
Of animals, or atoms organized, 29C 

Waiting the vital breath, when parent Heaven 
Shall bid his spirit blow. The hoary fen, 
In putrid steams, emits the living cloud 
Of pestilence. Through subterranean cells. 
Where searching sunbeams scarce can find a way, 29? 
Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf 
Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure, 
Within its winding citadel, the stone 
Holdd multitudes. But chief the forest boughs, 
That dance unnumber'd to the playful breeze, 3(K 

The downy orchard, and the melting pulp 
Of me!low fruit the nameless nations feed 
Of evanescent insects. Where the pool 
Stands mantled o'er with green, invisible, 
Amid the floating verdure millions stray. 30E 

Each liquid too, whether it pierces, sooths, 
Inflames, refreshes, or exalts the taste, 
With various forms abounds. Nor is the stream 
Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air, 
Though one transparent vacancy it seems, 31C 

Void of their unseen peo|)!e. These, conceal'd 
By the kind art of forming Heaven, escape 
The grosser eye of man ; for, if the worlds 
In worlds enclosed should on his senses bursi, 
F'rom cates ambrosial, and the nectar'd bowl 315 

He would abhorrent turn : and in dead night, 
Wlien silence sleeps o'er all, be stunn'd with noise 

Let no presuming impious railer tax 
Crfative Wisdom, as if aught was furm'd 
In vain or lot for admirable ends. 32G 



<• 



44 SUMMER 

Snail .iltle haughty Ignorance pronounce 

His works unwise, of which tiie smallest part 

Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind? 

As if upon a full proportion d dome, 

On swulling columns heaved, the pride of art . 321 

A critic-fly, whose feeble ray scarce spreads 

An inch around, with blind presumption bold, 

Should dare to tax the structure of the whole 

And lives the Man, whose universal eye 

Has swept at once the' unbounded scheme of thing* , 

Mark'd their dependance so, and firm accord, 331 

As with unfaltering accent to conclude 

That this availeth nought ? Has any seen 

The mighty chain of beings, lessening down 

From Infinite Perfection to the brink 335 

Of dreary nothing, desolate abyss ! 

From which astonish'd thought, recoiling, turns ? 

Till then alone let zealous praise ascend, 

And hymns of holy wonder to that Power 

Whose wisdom shines as lovely on our minds 340 

As on our smiling eyes his servant sun. 

Thick in yon stream of light, a thousand ways, 
Upward and downward, thwarting and convolved, 
The quivering nations sport ; till, tempest-wing'd, 
Fierce Winter sweeps them from the face of day. 345 
E'en so luxurious men, unheeding, pass 
An idle summer life in fortune's shine, 
A season's glitter ; thus they flutter on 
From toy to toy, from vanity to vice ; 
Till, blown away by death, oblivion comes 350 

Behind, and strikes them from the book of life. 

Now swarms the village o'er the jovial mead j 
The rustic youth, brown with meridian toil. 
Healthful and strong ; full as the summer rose 
Dlown by prevailing suns, the ruddy maid, 35A 

Half naked, swelling on the sight, and all 
H(!r kindled graces burning o"er her cheek. 
E 'en stooping age is b«re ; and infant hands 



SUMMER. 46 

ITrail the long rake, or, with tlie fragrant load 

Overcharged, amid the kind opi<ression roll. 366 

Wide flies the tedded grain ; all in a row 

Advancing broad, or wheeling round tlie field, 

They sjiread the breathing harvest to the sun, 

That throws refreshful round a rural smell : 

Or, as they rake the green-appearing ground, 3t5 

And drive the dusky wave along the mead, 

The russet haycock rises thick behind, 

In order gay. While heard from dale to dale, 

Waking the breeze, resounds the blended voice 

Of happy labour, love, and social glee. 370 

Or rushing thence, in one diHusive band. 
They drive the troubled flocks, by many a dog 
Compell'd, to where the mazy-running brook 
Forms a deep pool ; this bank abrupt and high, 
And that fair-spreading in a pebbled shore. 375 

Urged to the giddy brink, much is the toil. 
The clamour much, of men and boys and dogs. 
Ere the soft fearful people of the flood 
Conmiit their woolly sides. And oft the swain, 
On some impatient seizing, hurls them in; 380 

Embolden'd then, nor hesitating more, 
Fast, fast they plunge amid the flashing wave, 
And, panting, labour to the farthest shore. 
Repeated this, till deep tlie well washd fleece 
Has drunk the flood, and from his lively haunt 385 
The trout is banish'd by t!ie sordid stream ; 
Heavy and dripping, to the breezy brow 
Slow move the harmless race : where, as they spread 
Their swelling treasures to the sunny ray, 
Inly disturb'd and wondering what this wild 39(1 

Outrageous tumult means, their loud complamta 
The country fill ; and, toss'd from rock to rock. 
Incessant bleatings run around tlie hills 
At last, of snowy white, the gather d flocks 
Are in the wattled pen innumerous press d, 395 

Head above head : and ringed in lusty rows 



46 SUMMER. 

The shepherds sit, and whet the sounding shears. 

The housewife waits to roll her fleecy stores, 

With all her gay-dress'd maids attending romid. 

One, chief, in gracious dignity enthroned, 40C 

Shines o'er the rest, the pastoral queen, and rays 

Her smiles, sweet beaming on her shepherd king ; 

While the glad circle round them yield their soul? 

To festive mirth, and wit that knows no gall. 

Meantime, their joyous task goes on apace ; 405 

Some mingling stir the melted tar, and some, 

Deep on the new-shorn vagrant's heaving side, 

To stamp the master's cipher ready stand ; 

Others the' unwilling wether drag along ; 

And, glorying in his might, the sturdy boy 410 

Holds by the twisted horns the' indignant ram. ^JM 

Behold where bound, and of its robe bereft. 

By needy Man, that all-depending lord. 

How meek, how patient, the mild creature lies ! 

What softness in its melancholy face, 415 

What dumb complaining innocence appears ' 

Fear not, ye gentle tribes, 'tis not the knife 

Of horrid slaughter that is o'er you waved ; 

No, 'tis the tender swain's well guided shears. 

Who having now, to pay his annual care, 420 

Borrovv'd your fleece, to you a cumbrous load, 

Will send you bounding to your hills again. 

A simple scene ! yet hence Britannia sees 
Her solid grandeur rise : hence she commands 
The' exalted stores of every brighter clime, 425 

The treasures of the Sun without his rage : 
Hence, fervent all, with culture, toil, and arts 
Wide glows her land : her dreadful thunder hence 
Rides o'er the waves sublime, and now, een now. 
Impending hangs o'er Gallia's humbled coast : lotf 
Hence rules the circling deep, and awes the world. 

'Tis raging noon ; and, vertical, the sun 
Darts on the head direct his forceful rays. 
O'er heaven and earth, far as the ranging eye 



SUMMER. 41 

Can 8we» ,^ ■.< da7.?ling deluge reigns , and all 43& 

From po; : to jvit is undistinguish'd blaze, 
(a vain tJie signt," dejected, to the ground 
Stotps iVr relief ;tlience hot ascending steams 
And keen reflecti>^.n pain. Deep to the root 
Of vegetation pa.rchd, the cleaving fields 44fl 

And slippery lawn an arid hue disclose, 
Blast Fancy's bloom, and wither e'en the soul. 
Eoho no more returns the cheerful sound 
Of sharpening scythe : the mower sinking heaps 
O'er him the humid hay, with flowers perfumed; 445 
And scarce a chirping grasshopper is heard 
Through the dumb mead. Distressful Nature pants. 
The very streams look languid from afar : 
Or, through the' unsheltered glade, impatient, seem 
To hurl into the covert of the grove. 450 

Ail-conquering Heat, oh, intermit thy wrath ! 
And on my throbbing temples potent thus 
Beam not so fierce ! incessant still you flow, 
And still another fervent flood succeeds, 
Pour'd on the head profuse. In vain I sigh, 455 

And restless turn, ajid look around for night j 
Night is far off"; and hotter hours approach. 
Thrice happy he .' who on the sunless side 
Of a romantic mountain, forest-croM'n'd, 
Beneath the whole collected shade reclines : 4G0 

Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine-wrought. 
And fresh bedew'd with ever spouting streams, 
Sits coolly calm ; while all the world without^ 
Unsatisfied, and sick, tosses in noon. 
Emblem instriictive of the virtuous man, 465 

Who keeps his temper'd mind serene and pure, 
And every passion aptly harmonized, 
Amid a jarring world with vice inflamed. 

Welcome, ye shades ' ye bowery thickets, hail 
Fe lofty pines ' ye venero.ble oaks ! 470 

Ye ashes wild, resounding o'er the oteep ! 
uelicious is your shelter to the soul, 



48 SUMMER. 

As lo the hunted hart the sallying spring, 
Or stream full flowing, that his swelling sides 
Laves, as he floats along the herbaged brink. 47? 

Cool, through the nerves, your pleasing comfort glides 
The lieart beats glad ; the fresh-expanded eye 
And ear resume their watch ; the sinews knit ; 
And life shoots swift through all tJie lightend limbs 

Around the' adjoining brook, that purls along 489 
The vocal grove, now fret-ting o'er a rock, 
Now scarcely moving through a reedy pool, 
Now starling to a sudden stream, and now 
Gent'.y ditfused into a limpid plain ; 
A various group the herds and flocks compose, 48S 
Rural confusion ! on the grassy bank 
Some ruminating lie ; while others stand 
Half in the flood, and often bending sip 
The circling surface. In the middle droops 
The strong laborious ox, of h(mest front, 490 

Which incomposed he shakes ; and from his sides 
The troublous insects lashes with his tail, 
Returning still. Amid his subjects safe, 
Slumbers the monarch swain : his careless arm 
Thrown roimd his head, on downy moss sustain 'd ; 495 
Here laid his scrip, with wholesome viands fill'd ; 
There, listening every noise, his watchful dog. 

Light fly his slumbers, if perchance a flight 
Of angry gadflies fasten on the herd ; 
That startling scatters from the shallow brook, 500 
In search of lavish stream. Tossing the foam, 
They scorn the keeper's voice, and scour the plain, 
Through all the bright- severity of noon ; 
While, from their labouring breasts, a hollow moan, 
Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the hills. 505 

Ofl in this season too the horse, provoked, 
While his big sinews full of spirits swell, 
Trembling with vigour, in the heat o^ blood, 
Springs the high fence ; and, o'er the field eflusod, 
Darts on the gloomy flood, with steadfast eye, 511 



SUMMER. 49 

And heari estranged to fear : iiis nerve as chest, 
Luxuriant, and erect, the seat of strength ! 
Bears down the' opposing stream : quenchless his thirsl 
He takes the river at redoubled draughts ; 
And with wide nostril, snorting, skims the wave. 515 

Still lot me pierce into the midnight depth 
Of yonder grove, of wildest largest growth : 
That, tbrmirig high in air a woodland choir, 
Nods o er the mount beneath. At every step, 
Solemn and slow, the shadows blacker fall, 52C 

And all is awful listening gloom around. 

These are the haunts of Meditation, these 
The scenes where ancient bards the' inspiring broath. 
Ecstatic, felt ; and, from this world retired, 
Conversed vvith angels and immortal forms, 52r 

On gracious errands bent : to save the fall 
Of virtue struggling on the brinK of vice ; 
In waking whispers, and repeated dreams. 
To hint pure thought, and warn the favour'd soul 
For future trials fated to prepare ; 53C 

To prompt the poet, who devoted gives 
Flis muse to better themes ; to sooth the pangs 
Of dying worth, and from the patriot s breast 
(Backward to mingle in detested war, 
But foremt«t when engaged) to turn the death ; 535 ./ 
And numberless such offices of love, ail 

Oaily and nightly, zealous to perform -::^f -'^~'*^^^ ^'■ 

Shook sudden from the bosom of the sky, - '.-■■ ^^ 
A thousand shapes cr glide athwart the dusk, 
Or stalk majestic on. Deep roused, I feel SWi 

A sacred terror, a severe delight 

Creep through my mortal frame ; and thus, methinks, 
A voice, than human more, the' abstracted ear 
Of fancy strikes : — " Be not of us afraid. 
Poor kindred man ! thy fellow-creatures, we 545 

From the same Parent Power our beings drew, 
The same our Lord and laws and great pursuit, 
Dnco some of us, like thee, through stormy life 
5 



60 SUMMER. 

Toil d, tempest-beaten, ere \vc could attain 

This holy calm, this liarmony of mind, BfiO 

Where purity and peace immingle charms. 

Then fear not us ; but with responsive song 

Amid tliese dim recesses, undisturb'd 

By noisy folly and discordant vice, 

Of Nature sing with us, and Nature's God. 556 

Here frequent, at the visionary hour, 

When musing midnight reigns or silent noon, 

Angelic harps are in full concert heard. 

And voices chanting from the wood-crown'd hill, 

The deepening dale, or inmost silvan glade: 560 

A privilege bestow'd by us, alone, 

On Contemplation, or the hallow'd ear 

Of poet, swelling to seraphic strain." 

And art thou, Stanley,* of that sacred band, 
Alas, for us too soon ! though raised above 565 

The reach of human pain, above the flight 
Of human joy ; yet, with a mingled ray 
Of sadly pleased remembrance, niust thou feel 
A mother's love, a mother's tender woe : 
Who seeks thee still in many a former scene ; 570 
Seeks thy fair form, thy lovely beaming eyes, 
Thy pleasing converse, by gay lively sense 
Inspired : where mortal wisdom mildly shone, 
Without the toil of art ; and virtue glow'd, 
111 all her smiles, without forbidding pride. 578 

But, O thou best of parents ! wipe thy tears ; 
Or rather to Parental Nature pay 
The tears of grateful joy, who for awhile 
Lent thee this younger self, this opening bloom 
Of thy enlightened mind and gentle worth. 680 

Believe the Muse : the wintry blast of death 
Kills not the buds of virtue ; no, they spread, 
Beneath the heavenly beam of brighter suns, 
Through endless ages, into higher powers. 

*A young' lady, who died at tiie ag-e of eighteen, in (M 
year T'SS, upon whoii» Thompson wrote an epitaph. 



SUMMER. 5 

Thus up the mount, in airy vision wrapp'd, ' 58S 
1 stray, regardless whither ; till the sound 
Of a near fall of water every sense 
Wakes from the charm of thought: swift shrinking back, 
1 check my steps, and view the broken scene. 

Smooth to the shelving brink a copious flood COO 
Rolls fair and placid ; where, collected all 
In one impetuous torrent, down the steep 
It thundering shoots, and shakes the country round. 
At first an azure sheet, it rushes broad ; 
Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls, 595 

And from the loud-resounding rocks below 
Dash'd in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft 
A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower. 
Nor can the tortured wave here find repose : 
But, raging still amid the shaggy rocks, 600 

Now flaslies o'er the scatter'd fragments, now 
Aslant the hollow channel rapid darts ; 
And, falling fast from gradual slope to slope, 
With wild infracted course and lessen'd roar, 
It gains a s.-'ier bed, and steals, at last, 605 

Along the mazes of the quiet vale. 

Invited from the ciiif, to whose dark brow 
He clings, the steep-ascending eagle soars, 
Wit)i upward pinions, through the flood of day 
And, giving full his bosom to the blaze, 610 

Gains on the sun ; while all the tuneful race, 
Smit by afflictive noon, disordered droop, 
Deep in the thicket ; or, from bower to bower 
Responsive, force an interrupted stram. 
The stockdove only through the forest coos, 615 

Mournfully hoarse ; oft ceasing from his plaint, 
Short interval of weary woe ! again 
The sad idea of his murder'd mate. 
Struck from his side by savage fowler's guile, 
Across his fancy comes ; and then resounds 621 

A louder song of sorrow through the grove 

Beside the dewy border let me sit. 



52 SUMMER. 

All in the freshness of the huniid a/r : 

There in that hollov/'d rock, grotesque and wiJd, 

An ample chair moss-lined, and over hci(i fi25 

By flowering umbrage shaded ; where the bee 

Strays diligent, and with the' extracted balm 

Of fragrant woodt)ine loads his little thigh. 

Now, while 1 taste the sweetness of the shade, 
While Nature lies around deep lulld in noon 63L 

Now come, bold Fancy, spread a daring flight, 
And view the wonders of the torrid zone : 
Climes unrelenting '. with whose rage compared, 
Yon blaze is feeble, and yon skies are cool. 

See, how at once the bright effulgent sun, 635 

Rising direct, swift chases from the sky 
The short-lived twfi.glit : and with ardent blaze 
Looks gaily fierce through all the dazzlijig air : 
He mounts his throne ; but kmd before him sends, 
Issuing from out the portals of the morn, G43 

The general breeze,* to mitigate his fire, 
And breathe refreshment on a fainting world. 
Great are the scenes, with dreadful beauty crown'd 
And barbarous wealth, that see, each circling year, 
Returning suns and doubi'^ seasons! pass : 64^ 

Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with n.ines, 
That on the high equator ridgy rise, 
Whence many a bursting stream auriferous plays : 
Majestic woods, of every vigorous green. 
Stage above stage, Jiigh wavmg o'er the hills ; 650 
Or, to tl 3 far horizon wide diffused, 
A boundless deep immensity of shade. 
Here lofty trees, to ancient song unknown, 
The noble sons of potent heat and floods, 

* Which blows constr^ntly between the tropics from the 
east, or the collateral poiiii.s, tiie north-east and soiuli-cast; 
caused by tlie pressure of die rarefied air on thai hjfore it, 
according to the diurna' nic'.ion of the siui li->.ni ciisi lo west. 

t In all climates belwt^eu the tropics. tli<' sun, as lie passe« 
and r-passes in his armiiil niol'on, is twice a year vertical, 
Rhich produces this efici i. 



SUMMER. 53 

Prone-rushing from the clouds, rear high to heaven 055^ 
Their thorny steins, and broad around them thrjw 
Meridian gloom. Here, in eternal prime, 
Unnumber'd fruits, of keen delicious taste 
And vital spirit, drink amid the clilFs, 
And burning sands tliat bank the shrubby vales, C<30 
Redoubled day, yet in their rugged coats 
A friendly juice to cool its rage contain. 

Bear me, Pomona ! to thy citroji groves ; 
To where the lemon and the piercing lime, 
With the deep orange, glowing througli the green, 065 
Theij' lig liter glories blend. Lay me reclined 
Beneath the spreading tamarind that shakes, 
Fann'd by the breeze, its fever cooling fruit. 
Deep in the night the massy locust sheds. 
Quench my hot limbs ; or lead me through the maze, 
Embowering endless, of the Indian fig ; 671 

Or, thrown at gayer ease, on some fair brow, 
Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cool'd. 
Broad o'er my head the verdmt cedar wave, 
And high palmetos lift their graceful shade. G75 

Or, stretchd amid these orcliards of the sun. 
Give Tiie to drain the cocoa's milky bowl. 
And from the palm to draw its fresliening wine I 
More bounteous far than all the frantic juice 
Whicli Bacchus pours. Nor, on its slender twigs bwt) 
Low bending, be the full pomegranate scorn'd ; 
Nor, creeping through the woods, the gelid race 
Of berries. Oft in humble station dwells 
Unboastful worth, above fastidious pomp. 
Witness, thou best A nana, thou the pride 685 

Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er 
The poets imaged in the golden ago : 
Quick let me strip thee of thy tufty coat, 
Spread thy ambrosial storeS; and feast tvith Jove ! 

From these the prospect varies. Plains immense 
Lie stretch'd beloAV, interminable meads, GOl 

And vast savaruiahs, where the wandering eye, 
6* 



54 SUMMER. 

Unfix'd, is in a verdant ocean lost. 

Another Flora tliere, of bolder hue's, 

And richer sweets, beyond our garden's pride 605 

Plays o'er the fields, and showers with sudden hand 

Exuberant spring : for oft these valleys shift 

Their green-embroider'd robe to fiery brown, 

And swift to green again, as scorching suns, 

Or streaming dews and torrent rains, prevail. 700 

Along these lonely regions, where, retired 
From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells 
In awful solitude, and nought is seen 
But the wild herds that own no master s stall, 
Prodigious rivers roll their fattening seas : 705 

On whose luxuriant herbage, half conceal'd, 
Like a fallen cedar, far diffused his train, 
Cased in green scales, the crocodile extends. 
The flood disparts : behold ! in plaited mall, 
Behemoth* rears his head. Glanced from his side, 710 
The darted steel m idle shivers flies : 
He fearless walks the plain, or seeks the hills ; 
Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds, 
In widening circle round, forget their food, 
And at the harmless stranger wondering gaze. 713 

Peaceful beneath primeval trees, that cast 
Their amp'e shade o'er Niger's yellow stream. 
And where the Ganges rolls his sacred wave ; 
Or. mid the central depth of blackening woods, 
H^gh raised in solemn theatre aroand, 720 

Leans the huge elephant : wisest of brutes ! 
O truly wise ! with gentle might endow'd, 
Though powerful, not destructive ! here he sees 
Revolving ages sweep the changeful earth, 
And empires rise and fall ; regardless lie 7S5 

Of what the never resting race of men 
Project : thrice happy ! covdd he scape their guile, 
Who mine, from cruel avarice, his steps ; 
Or with his towery grandeur swell their stite, 
* Tlie Hippopoiamus, or river-horse 



•\ 



SUMMER. 56 

The pr'ide of kings! or else his strength peivcrt, 730 
And bid him rage amid the mortal fray, 
Astonish'd al the madness of mankind. 

Wide o'er the winding umbrage of the floods, 
Like vivid blossoms glowing from afar, 
Thick swarm tlie brighter birds. For Nature's hand, 
That with a sportive vanity has deck'd 73C 

The plnmy nations, there hex gayest hues 
Profusely pours.* But if she bids them shine 
Array'd in all the beauteous beams of day, 
Yet frugal still, she humbles them in song. 740 

Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent 
Proud Montc37,ama's realm, whose legions cast 
A boundless radiance waving on the sun, 
While Philomel is ours ; while in our shadea. 
Through llic soft silence of the listening night, 745 
The sober-suited songstress trills her lay. 

But come, my Muse, the desert-barrier burst, 
A wild expanse of lifeless sand and sky : 
And, swifter than the toiling caravan, 
Shoot o'er llie vale of Sennar ; ardent climb 750 

The Nubian mountains, and the secret bounds 
Of jealous Al>yssinia boldly pierce. 
Thou art no ruffidn, who beneath the mask 
Of social commerce comest to rob their wealth ; 
No holy fury thou blaspheming Heaven, 755 

With consecrated steel to stab iheir peace. 
And throngli the land, yet red from civil wounds. 
To spread the purple tyranny of Rome. 
Thou, like tJic harmless bee, mayst freely range 
From mead to mead bright with exalted flowers, "GCi 
From jasmine grove to grove niayst wander gay 
Through palmy shades and aromatic woods, 
That grace the plains, invest the peopled hills, 
And up the more than Alpine mountains wave 

* 111 all th<' re°;ioi:s of the to;Tid zone, the bin Is though 
more heoniiful in men plumage, aie observed lo be less me- 
Wious ihan ours 



56 SUMxMKR. 

TJiere on tlie breezy summit, spn^a-'ling fair, 765 

F^'or many a league ; or on stupendous rocks, 

That frou) the sun-redoubling valley lift, 

Cool to the middle air, their lawny tops ; 

Where palaces and fanes and villas rise , 

And gardens smile around, and cultured fields ; 77) 

And fountains gush; and careless herds and tlocks 

Securely stray ; a world within itself, 

Disdaining all assault : there let me draw 

Ethereal soul, there drink reviving gales, 

Profusely breathing from the spicy groves 773 

A.nd vales of fragrance ; there at distance hear 

The roaring floods, and cataracts, that sweep 

From disembowel'd earth the virgin gold ; 

And o'er the varied landscape, restless, rove, 

S^ervent with life of every fairer kind : 780 

A land of wonders ! which the sun still eyes 

With ray direct, as of the lovely realm 

Enamour'd, and delighting there to dwell. 

How changed the scene ! in blazing height of nooi|, 
The sun, oppress'd, is plunged in thickest gloom. 785 
Still horror reigns, a dreary twilight round. 
Of struggling night and day malignant mix'd. 
For to the hot equator crowding fast, 
Where, highly rarefied, the yielding air 
Admits their stream, incessant vapours roll, 790 

Amazing clouds on clonds continual lieapd ; 
Or whirld tempestuous by the gusty wind. 
Or silent borne along, hv.avy, and slow, 
With the big stores of steaming oceans chirgcd 
Meantime, amid these upper seas, condensed 795 

Around the cold aerial mountain's brow, 
And bv conflicting winds together dash'd, 
The Tliun.ler holds his bla«^k tremendous throne , 
From cloud to cloud the rending lightnings rage ; 
Till, in the furious elemental war 800 

Dissolved, the whole precipitated mass 
Unbroken floods and solid torrents p mr*. 



SUMxTIER. 57 

The treasures these, hid from the bounded search 
Of ancient knowledge; whence, with annual pomp, 
Rich kiajr of Hoods 1 o'erflows the swelling Nile. 803 
From his two springs, in Gojam s sunny realm, 
Pure-welling out, he through the lucid lake 
Of fair Danibea rolls his infant stream. 
There, by the naiads nursed, he sports away 
His playfii! youth amid the fragrant isles, 810 

That with \infading verdure smile around 
Ambitious thence the manly river breaks ; 
And, gathering many a flood, and copious fed 
With all the mellow'd treasures of the sky, 
Winds in progressive majesty along : 815 

Through splendid kingdoms now devolves his mazOi 
Now wanders wild o'er solitary tracts 
Of life-desorted sand ; till, glad to quit 
The joyless desert, down the Nubian rocks. 
From thundering steep to steep, he pours his urn, 620 
And Egypt joys beneath the spreading wave. 

His brother Niger too, and all the floods 
In which the full form'd maids of Afric lave 
Their jetty limbs ; and all that from the tract 
Of woody mountains stretch'd through gorgeous Ind 
Fall on ('ormandel's coast, or Malabar ; 826 

From Monam's* orient stream, that nightly shines 
With insect lamps, to where Aurora sheds 
On Inilus' smiling banks the rosy shower: 
All, at this bounteous season, ope their urns, 850 

And pour untoiling harvest o'er the land. 

Nor lesis thy world, Columbus, drinks, refresh'd, 
The lavish moisture of the melting year. 
Wide o'er his islos the branching Oronoque 
Rolls a brown deluge ; and the native drives 635 

To dwell aloft on life sufficing trees. 
At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms 

* 'I'lie river that nuis ih'-oun-h Siam ; on whose l>anK« a van 
fiultilude ol' tiu)sp insects called Fire Flies make a tieautifui 
appearance in ilie night. 



58 SUMMER. 

Swell'd by a thousand streams, impolnons liurl'd 

From all tlie roaring Andes, huge descends 

The mighty Orellana* Scarce the mi!s« 840 

Dares stretch her wing o'er this enormoiis mass 

Of rutilung water ; scarce she dares attoin[)t 

The sealike Plata; to whose dread expanse, 

Ccnlinu(»us depth, and wondrous length ol" course 

Our iloods are rills. With urabated force, /845 

In silent dignity they sweep along, 

And traverse realms unknown, and blooming wilds^ 

And fruitful Jeserts, worlds of solitude. 

Where llie sun smiles and seasons teeui in vain, 

Unseen and unenjoy'd. Forsaking these, 850 

O'er peopled plains they fair diffusive flow, 

And many a nation feed, and circle safe, 

In their soft bosom, many a happy isle ; 

The seat of blameless Pan, yet undisturb'd 

By Christian crimes and Europe's cruel sims. 855 

Thus pouring on they proudly seek tJic deep. 

Whose vanquish'd tide, recoiling from the shock, 

Yields to the liquid weight of half the glnbe ; 

And Ocean trembles for his green domain. 

But what avails this wondrous waste of wealth .'' 
This gay profusion of luxurious bliss ? 861 

This pomp of Nature ? what their balmy meads, 
Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain ? 
By vagrant birds dispersed, and wafting winds. 
What their unplanted fruits.' what the cool draughts, 
The' ambrosial food, rich gums, and spicy health 8G6 
Their forests yield .'' their toiling insects what, 
Their silky pride, and vegetable robes .'' 
Ah ! what avail their fatal treasures hid 
Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth, 870 

Golcond.is gems, and sad Potosi's mines ; 
Where dwelt the gentlest children of the sun! 
What all that Afric's golden rivers roll, 
ller odorous woods, and shining ivory stores ? 
* The river of ihe Amazons 



1 



SUMMf:R. 5? 

/Il fated race I the softening- arts of Peace, Si 

Whate'er the humanizing Muses teach; 
Tlie godlike wisdom of the temper'd breast ; 
Progressive truth, the patient force of thought; 
Investigation calm, whose silent powers 
Command the world ; the light that leads to heaven ; 
Kind equal rule, tlie government of laws, 881 

And all -p rote ctilig Freedom, which alone 
Si tains the name and dignity of man : 
' jse arc not theirs. The parent sun himself 
jrieems o'er this world of slaves to tyrannise ; 885 

And, with oppressive ray, the roseate bloom 
Of beauty blasting, gives the gloomy hue. 
And feature gross : or worse, to ruthless deeds, 
Mad jealousy, blind rage, and fell revenge, 
Their fervid spirit fires. Love dwells nut tliere, 890 
The soft regards, the tenderness of life, 
The heart-shed tear, the" ineffable delight 
Of sweet humanity: these court the beam 
Of milder climes ; in selfish fierce desire. 
And the wild fury of voluptuous sense, , 895 

There lost. The very brute creation there 
This rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire. 
Lo ! the green serpent, from his dark abode, 
Wkich even Lnagination t'ears to tread, 
At noon forth issuing, gathers up his train 900 

In orbs iinmense, then, darting out anew. 
Seeks the refreshing fount ; by which ditlusrd. 
Rethrows hii- tolds: and while, with threatening tcngue, 
And deatlifu! jaws erect, the monster curls 
ilis flaming crest, all other thirst appali'd, 9C& 

Or shivering (lies, or check'd at distance stands. 
Nor dares a]ii[)roach. But still more direful he, 
riie small close-lurking minister of fat'B, 
Whose high- concocted venom through the veins 
A rapid lightning darts, arresting swift 9M 

The vital current. Frrm'd to humble man, 
■^'liifs child of veno-eful nature ! there, siibiimed 



oO SUMMER. 

To fe<irless lust of blood, the savao-e race 
Roam, licensed by tlie shading hour of guilt, 
And foul misdeed, when the pure day has shnt 918 
His sacred eye. The tiger darting fierce 
Impetuous on the prey his glance has doom'd : 
The lively shining leopard, speckled o'er 
With many a spot, the beauty of the waste ; 
And, scorning all the taming arts of man, 9S€ 

The keen hyena, fellest of the fell. 
These, rusliing from the' inhos])itable woods 
Of Mauritania, or the tufted isles 
That verdant rise amid the Libyan wild, 
Innumerous glare around their shaggy king, 925 

Majestic, stalking o'er the printed sand ; 
And, with imperious and repeated roars, 
Demand their fated food. The fearful flocka 
Crowd near the guardian swain ; the nobler hei ds, 
Where round their lordly bull, in rural ease *J30 

They rumir-ating lie, with horror hear 
The coming rage. The' awaken"d village startf , 
And to her fluttering breast the mother strains 
Her thoughtless infant. From the pirate's den, 
Or stern Morocca's tyrant fang escaped, 93ft 

The wretch half wishes for his bonds again : 
While, uproar all, the wilderness resounds, 
From Atlas eastward to the frighted Nile. 
Unhappy he ! who from the first of joys, 
Society, cut off, is left alone 94C 

Amid this world of death. Day after day, 
Sad on the jutting eminence he sits. 
And views the main that ever toils below ; 
Still fondly forming in the farthest vergo, 
Where the round ether mixes with the wave, M5 

Ships, dim-discover'd, dropping from the clouds ; 
At evening, to the setting sun he turns 
A mournful eye, and down his dying heart 
Sinks helpless ; while the \7onted roar is up, 
And luss continual through the tedious night. 950 



SUMMER. 61 

Tet here, e'en here, into these black abodes 
Of monster^! niiappaU'd, from stooping Rome, 
And guilty Caesar, Liberty retired, 
Her Cato following through Numidian wilds* 
Disdainful of Campania's gentle plains, 955 

And all the green delights Ausonia pours; 
When for them slie must bend the servile knee, 
And fawning take the splendid robber's boon. 

Nor stc.)p the terrors of these regions here. 
Commissiond demons oft, angels of wrath, 9G0 

JiOt loose the raging elements. Breathed hot 
From all the boundless furnace of the sky, 
And the wide glittering waste of burning sand, 
A suffocating wind the pilgrim smites 
With instant death. Patient of thirst and toil, 965 
Son of the desert ! even the camel feels, 
Shot through his wither'd heart, the fiery blast. 
Or from the black-red ether, bursting broad. 
Sallies the sudden whirlwind. Straight tiie sands, 
Commoved around, in gathering eddies play: 970 

Nearer and nearer still they darkening come ; 
Till, with the general all-involving storm 
Swept up, the whole continuous wilds aiise , 
And by their noonday fount dejected thrown. 
Or sunk at night in sad disastrous sleep, 975 

Beneath descending hills, the caravan 
Is buried deep. In Cairo's crowded streets 
The' impatient merchant, wondering, waits in vain, 
And Mecca saddens at the long delay. 

But chief at sea, whose every flexile wave 980 

Obeys the blast, the' aerial tumult swells. 
In the ciread ocean, undulating wide, 
Beneath the radiant line that girts the globe. 
The circling Typhon* whirl'd from point to point, 
Exhausting all the rage of all the sky, 98i 

And dire Ecneplua* reign. Amid the heavens, 

* Typhon and Ecnephia, names of particular storms or hut- 
^cartes, known only between the tropics. 
6 



62 SUMMER. 

Falsely serene, deep in a cloudy speck* 

Coinpress'd, the mighty tempest brooding dwell* 

Of no regard, save to the skilful eye, 

Fiery and foul, the small prognostic hangs 996 

Aloft, or on the promontory's brow 

Musters its force. A faint deceitful calm, 

A fluttering gale, the demon sends before, 

To tt npt the spreading sail. Then down at onco, 

Precipitant, descends a mingled mass 995 

Of roaring winds and flame and rushing floeds. 

In wild amazement fix'd the sailor stands. 

Art is too slow : by rapid fate oppressd, 

His broad-wing'd vessel drinks the whelming tide. 

Hid in the bosom of the black abyss. lOOO 

With such mad seas the darmg Gamat fought, 

For many a day, and many a dreadful night, 

Incessant, labouring round the stormy Cape ; 

By bold ambition led, and bolder thirst 

Of gold. For then from ancient gloom emerged 1005 

The rising world of trade : the Genius, then, 

Of nivigation, that, in hopeless sloth. 

Had slumber'd on the vast Atlantic deep, 

For idle agea, starting, heard at last 

The Lusitanian Prince ;t who, Heaven-inspired, 1010 

To love of useful glory roused mankind. 

And in unbounded commerce mix'd the world. 

Increasing still the terrors of tl^ese storms. 
His jaws horrific arm'd with threefold fate, 
Here dwells the direful shark. Lured by the scent 1016 
Of steaming crowds, of rank disease, and death, 
Behold ! he rushing cuts the briny flood, 

* Called by sailors the Ox-eye, being in appearance at first 
no bigger. 

t Vasv-o de Gaitia, the first who sailed round Africa by the 
Cape of (jiood llo]>e. to the East indies. 

\ Don Henry, third son to John the First, King of Portugal. 
His strong genius to the discovery of new counlrios was liM 
diii^f source of all iho modern improvements of navigation. 



i 

SUMMER. 63 

8vv )■ .- . le can bear the ship along , 

And, iron, il ■ parlners of that cruel trade 

Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons, 1020 

Deiiiand:^ liis siiareof prey ; demands themselves. 

The stormy fates d«!scend : one death involves 

Tyrantsand slaves^ when straight, their mangled I'inibs 

Crashing at once, he dyes the purple seas 

With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal. 1021 

When o'er this world, by equinoctial rains 
Flooded immense, looks out the joyless sun, 
And draws the copious steam ; from swampy fens, 
Where putrefaction into life ferments, 
And breathes destructive myriads: or from woods, 1030 
Impenetrable shades, recesses foul. 
In vapours rank and blue corruption wrapp'd, 
Whose gloomy horrors yet no desperate foot 
Has ever dared to pierce ; then, wasteful, forth 
Walks the dire Power of pestilent disease. 1035 

A thousand hideous fiends her course attend, 
Sick Nature blasting, and to heartless woe. 
And feeble desolation, casting down 
The towering hopes and all the pride of Man. 
Such as, of late, at Carthagena qucnch'd 104t 

The British fire. You, gallant Vernon, saw 
The miserable scene ; you, pitying, saw 
To infant weakness sunk the warrior's arm , 
Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghastly form, 
The lip pale-quivering, and the beamlcss eye 104.*^ 
No more with ardour bright : you heard the groans 
Of agonizing ships from shore to shore ; 
Heard, nightly plunged amid the sullen waves, 
The frequent corse : while on each other fiz'd. 
In sad presage, the blank assistants scem'd, 1050 

Silent, to ask, whom Fate would next demand. 

What need I mention those inclement skies, 
Where, frequent o'er the sickening city, Plague, 
The fiercest child of Nemesis divine, 
Descends ' From Ethiopia's poison'd woods, 1055 



54 SUMMER. 

From stifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields 
With locust armies putrefying heap'd, fl 

This great destroyer sprung. Her awful rage " 

The brutes escape : Man is her destined prey, 
Intemperate Man ! and, o'er his guilty domes, 100€ 
Siie draws a close incumbent cloud of death : 
Uninterrupted by the living winds, 
Forbid to blow a wholesome breeze ; and stain'd 
With many a mixture by the sun, suffused, 
Of angry aspect. Princely wisdom, then, 1065 

Dejects his watchful eye ; and from the hand 
Of feeble justice, ineffectual, drop 
The sword and balance : mute the voice of joy, 
And hush'd the clamour of the busy world. 
Empty the streets, with uncouth verdure clad ; 1070 
Into the worst of deserts sudden turn'd 
The cheerful haunt of men ; unless escaped 
From the doom'd house, where matchless horror reigns, 
Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch. 
With frenzy wild, breaks loose; and, loud to Heaven 
Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns, 1076 

Inhuman, and unwise. The sullen door, 
Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge 
Fearing to turn, abhors society : 

Dependants, friends, relations, Love himself, 1080 
Savaged by woe, forget the tender tie, 
The sweet engagement of the feeling heart. 
But vain their selfish care • the circling sky, 
The wide enlivening air is full of fate ; 
And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs 1085 

They fall, unbless d, untended, and unmourn'd. 
Thus o'er the prostrate city black Despair 
Extends her raven wing ; while, to complete 
The scene of desolation, stretch'd around, 
The grim guards stand, denying all retreat, 1091 

And give the flying wretch a better death. 
' Much yet remains unsung : the rage intense 
Of brazen- vaulted skies, of iron fields, 



SUMMER. 65 

Wheie drought and famine starve tlie blasted year 
Firod by the torch of noon to tenfold ra^e, 1095 

The' infuriate liill that shoots the pillar'd flame; 
And, roused witlnn the subterranean world, 
The' expanding earthquake, that resistless shalies 
Aspiring cities from their solid base, 
And buries mountains in the flaming gulf 1 100 

But 'tis enough ; return, my vagrant Muse : 
A nearer scene of horror calls tJiee home. 

Behold, slow-settling o'er the lurid grove 
Unusual darkness broods ; and growing gains 
The full possession of the sky, surcharged 1105 

With wratliful vapour, from the secret beds, 
Where sleep the mineral generations, drawn. 
7^hence nitre, sulphur, and the fiery spume 
Of fat bitumen, steaming on the day, 
With various tinctured trains oi^ latent flame, 1110 
Pollute the sky, and in yon baleful cloud, 
A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate 
Ferment ; till, by the touch ethereal roused, 
The dash of clouds, or irritating war 
Of fighting winds, while all is calm below, 1115 

They furious spring. A boding silence reigns. 
Dread through the dun expanse ; save tlie dull sound 
That from the mountain, previous to the storm. 
Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood, 
And shakes the forest-leaf without a breath. 1 120 

Prone, to the lowest vale, the aerial tribes 
Descend: the tempest-loving raven scarce 
Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful gaze 
The cattle stand, and on tjie scowling heavena 
Cast a deploring eye ; by man forsook, 1126 

Who to the crowded cottage hies him fast, 
Or seeks tiie shelter of the downward cave. 

'Tis listening fear, and dumb amazement all : 
When to the startled eye the sudden glance 
Appears far south, eruptive through the cloud; 1130 
4.nd, fallowing slower, in e-xplosion vast, 
6* 



66 SUMMER. 

The Thunder raises liis tremendous voice. 

At first, heard solemn o'er the verge of heaven, 

The tempest growls ; but as it nearer comes, 

And rolls its awful burden on the wind, 1135 

The lightnings llash a larger curve, and more 

The noise astounds . till over head a sheet 

Of livid flame di..closes wide ; then shuts, 

And opens wider ; shuts and opens still 

Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze. 114<) 

Follows the loosen'd aggravated roar, 

Enl.rging, deepening, mingling ; peal on peal 

Crush'd horrible, convulsing heaven and earth. 

Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail, 
Or prone-descending rain. Wide-rent, the clouds 1145 
Pour a whole flood ; and yet, its flame unquench d, 
The' unconquerable lightning struggles through, 
Ragged and iierce, or in red whirling balls, 
And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. 1140 
Black from the stroke, above, the smouldering pine 
Stands a sad shatter'd trunk ; and, stretch'd below, 
A lifeless group the blasted cattle lie : 
Here the soft, flocks, with that same harmless look 
They wore alive, and ruminating still 
In fancy's eye ; and there the frowning bull, 1155 
And ox half-raised. Struck on the castled cliff, 
The venerable tower and spiry fane 
Resign their aged pride. The gloomy woods 
Start at the flash, and from their deep recess. 
Wide-flaming out, their trembling inmates shake. 1160 
Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud 
The repercussive roar : with mighty crush, 
Into tlie flashing deep, from the rude rocks 
Of Penmanmaur heap'd hideous to the sky. 
Tumble the smittdn cliffs: and Snowden's peak, 1161 
Dissolving, instant yields his wintry ioad. 
Far seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze. 
And Thulc bellows through her utmost isles. 

Guilt hears appall'd, with deeply troubled thought 



SUMMER. «7 

And yet not always on the guilty head 1170 

Descends the fated flash. Young Celadon 
And his Amelia were a matchless pair ; 
With equal virtue foim'd, and equal grace, 
The same, distinguished by tlieir sex alone 
Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn, 1175 

And his the radiance of the risen day. 

They loved : but such the guileless passion was, 
As in the dawn of time inform'd the heart 
Of innocence, and undissembling truth. 
•Twas friendship heighten'd by the mutual wish ; 1130 
The' enchanting hope and sympathetic glow 
Beam'd from the mutual eye. Devoting all 
To love, each was to each a dearer self; 
Supremely happy in the' aw aken'd power 
Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades, 1185 

Still in harmonious intercourse ♦hey lived 
The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart, 
Or sigh'd and look'd unutterable things. 

So pass'd tlieir life, a clear united stream. 
By care unrutiled ; till, in evil hour, lj90 

The tempest caught them on the tender walk, 
Heedless how far and where its mazes stray'd, 
While, with each other bless'd, creative love 
Still bade eternal Eden smile around. 
Presaging instant fate her bosom heaved 115)5 

Unwonted sighs, and, stealing otl a look 
Of the big gloom, on Celadon her eye 
Fell tearful, welting her disorder'd cheek. 
In vain, assuring love and confidence 
In Heaven reprcps'd lier fear ; it grew, and shook 
Her frame near dissojjtion. He perceived 1^1 

Ths' unequal conflict ; and as angels look 
On dying saints, Ins eyes compassion shed. 
With love illumined high. " Fear not," he said, 
" Sweet inno(;enoe ! tliou stranger to offence, 120S 
And inward stnrm ! He, who yon skies involves 
In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee 



68 SUMMER. i 

With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft 
That wastes at midnight, or the' undreaded hour 
Of noon, flies harmless : and that ver}' voice, 1210 
Which timnders terror through the guilty heart, 
With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to tliino 
Tis safety to be near thee sure, and tlius 
To clasp perfection !" From his void embrace, 1214 
(Mysterious Heaven !) that moment, to the ground, 
A blacken'd corse, was struck the beauteous maid. 
But who can paint the lover, as he stood, 
Pierced by severe amazement, hating life, 
Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of woe ! 
So, faint resemblance ! on the marble tomb, 1220 

The well desembled mourner stooping stands, 
For ever silent and for ever sad. 

As from the face of heaven the shatter'd clouds 
Tumultuous rove, the' interminable sky 
Sublimer swells, and o'er the world expands 1225 

A purer azure. Through the lighten'd air 
A higher lustre and a clearer calm, 
Diifusive, tremble ; while, as if in sign 
Of danger past, a glittering robe ofjoj', 
Set off abundant by the yellow ray, 1230 

Invests the fields; and nature smiles revived. 

'Tis beauty all, and grateful song around, 
Join'd to the low of kine, and numerous bleat 
Of flocks thick-nibbling through the clover'd vale. 
And shall the hymn be marr'd by thankless Man, 1235 
Most favour'd ! who with voice articulate 
Should lead the chorus of this lower world j 
Shall he, so soon forgetful of the Hand 
That husird the thunder, and serenes the sky, 
Extinguish'd feel that spark the tempest waked, 1240 
That sense of powers exceeding far his own, 
Ere yet his feeble heart has lost its fears ? 

Cheer'd by the milder beam, the sprightly youth 
Speeds to the well known pool, whose crystal depth 
^ sandy bottom shows. Awhile he stands 1245 



SUMMER. 6<» 

Gazing the' inverted landscape, half afraid 
To meditate the blue profound below ; 
Then plunges headlong down the circling flood. 
His ebon tresses and his rosy cheek 
Instant c,:iierge ; and, through the' obedient wave, 
At each short breathing by his lip reoell'd, 1251 

With arms and legs according well, he makes 
As humour leads, an easy-winding path ; 
While, from his polish'd sides, a dewy light 
Effuses on the pleased spectators round. 1255 

This is the purest exercise of health, 
The kind refresher of the summer heats ; 
Nor when cold Winter keens the brightening flood, 
Would I weak-shivering linger on the brink. 
Thus life redoubles, and is oft preserved, 12G0 

By the bold swimmer, in the swift elapse 
Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs 
Knit into force ; and the same Roman arm. 
That rose victorious o'er the conquerd earth, 
First learn'd, while tender, to subdue the wave. 1265 
Even from the body's purity, the mind 
Receives a secret sympathetic aid. 

Close in the covert of a hazel copse, 
Where winded into pleasing solitudes 
Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon sat, 1270 
Pensive, and pierced with love's delightful pangs. 
There to the stream that down the distant rocks 
Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that play'd 
Among the bending willows, falsely ho 
Of Musidora's cjuelty complain'd. 127-3 

She felt his flame ; but deep within her breast 
In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride, 
The soft return conceal'd ; save when it stole 
En sidelong glances from her downcast eye. 
Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs. 1268 

Touch'd by the scene, no stranger to his vowp, 
He framed a melting lay, to try her heart ; 
And, if an infant passion struggled there, 



70 SUMMER. 

To call that passion forth. '1 hrice haj-.py swain I 

A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate 

Of mighty monarchs, tlieii decided tliiae. 

?or lo ! conducted by the laughing Loves, 

This cool retreat iiis Musidora sought: 

Warm in her choek the sultry season glow'd ", 

And, robed in loose array, she came to bathe 1290 

Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream. 

What shall he do ? In sweet confusion lost, 

And dubious flutterings, he awhile remain'd : 

A pure ingenuous elegance of soul, 

A delicate refinement, known to few, 12^ 

Perplex'd his breast, and urged him to retire : 

But love forbade. Ye prudes in virtue, say, 

Say, ye severest, what would you have done ? 

Meantime, this fairer nymph than ever bicss'd 

Arcadian stream, with timid eye around 1300 

The banks surveying, stripp'd her beauteous limbs, 

To taste the lucid coolness of the flood. 

Ah then ! not Paris on the piny top 

Of Ida panted stronger, when aside 

The rival-goddesses the veil divine 1305 

Cast unconfmed, and gave him all their charms. 

Than, Damon, thou ; as from the snowy leg. 

And slender foot, the' inverted silk she drew ; 

As the soft touch dissolved the virgin zone ; 

And, through the parting robe, the' alternate breast, 

With youth wild-throbbing, on thy lawless gaze 1311 

In full luxuriance rose. But, dcsjjcrate youth, 

Hftw durst thou risk the soul-distracti^ view; 

As from her naked limbs of glowing white, 

Harmonious swell d by Nature's finest hand, 1315 

In fc^ds loose-floating fell the fainter lawn ; 

And fair-exposed she stood, shrunk from herself 

With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze 

Alarm 'd, and starting like the fearful fawn ? 

Then to the flood she rush'd ; the parted flood 1320 

its bvely guest with closmg waves received ; 



SUMMER. n 

Atju every beauty softening, every p-ra.»s« 
Flushing "new, a m«llow lustre shed : 
Ay ihines the lily threugh the crystal mild , 
Or as the rose amid the rnorninrr dew, 1^125 

Fresh tVrrWt Aurora's'liand, more sweetly glows. 
While tb It! she wanton'd, now beneath tlie wave 
But ill J oncealed ; and now with streaming locka, 
That half-embraced her in a humid veil, 
Rising again, the latent Damon drew 1330 

Such maddening draughts of beauty to the soul 
As for awhile o'erwhelmd his raptured thougni 
With luxury too daring. Check'd, at last, 
By love's respectful modesty, he deem'd 
The theft profane, if aught profane to love 1335 

Can e er be deem'd ; and, struggling from the slmde, 
With headlong hurry fled : but first these lines. 
Traced by his ready pencil, on the bank 
With trembling hand he threw • — '* Bathe on, my fair, 
Yet unbeheld save by the sacred eye 1340 

Of taithful love : 1 go to guard thy haunt, 
To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot, 
And each licentious eye." With wild surprise. 
As if to marble struck, devoid of sense, 
A stupid moment motionless she stood : 1345 

So stands the statue* that enchants the world, 
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast. 
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece. 
Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes 
Which blissful Eden knew not ; and, array'd V^O 

In careless ha^, the' alarming paper snatch'd. 
But, when her Damon's well known hand she saw. 
Her terrors vanish'd, and a softer train 
Of mix'd emotions, hard to be described. 
Her sud'Jen bosom seized : shame void of guilt, I35fl 
The charming blush of innocence, esteem, 
And admiration of her lover's llame, 
Uy modesty exalted : even a sense 

• The Venus oi Medici. 



92 SUMMER. 

Of self-approving beauty stoic across 

Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm 1368 

Hush'd by degrees the tumult of her soul ; 

And on the spreading befc';li, that o cr the stream 

Incumbent hung, she with the silvan pen 

Of rural lovers this confession carved, 

Which soon her Damon kiss'd with weeping joy : 136^* 

" Dear youth ! sole judge of what these verses mean/1 

By fortune too much favour'd, but by love, "^ 

Alas ! not favour'd less, be still as now 1 

Discreet ; the time may come you need not fly." 

The sun has lost his rage : his downward orb 1370 
Shoots nothing now out animating warmth, 
And vital lustre ; that, with various ray, 
Lights up the clouds, those beauteous rubes of heaven.^ 
Incessant roU'd into romantic shapes, M 

The dream of waking fancy ! broad below 137b 

Cover'd with ripening fruits, and swelling fast 
Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth 
And all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour 
Of v/alking comes : for him who lonely loves 
To seek the distant hills, and there converse 1330 

With Nature ; there to harmonize his heart, 
And in pathetic son^- to b'-eathe around 
The harmony to others. Social friends, 
Attuned to happy unison of soul ; 

To whose exalting eye a fairer world, 1385 

Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse. 
Displays its charms ; waose minds are richly fraught 
With philosophic stores, superior ligl#; 
And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns 
Virtue, the sons of interest deem romance ; l^H* 

Now calPd abroad enjoy the falling day : 
Now to the verdant Portico of woods, 
To Natvre's vast Lyceum, forth Lhey walk 
By that kind School v/here no pioud master Teljfns, 
The full free converse of the friv^ndlv h«art, 1391 

Improving and improved. Now from tlio 9,^orld, 



i 

SUMMER. 7^ 

Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal, 
And pour the''- ^oals in transport, which the Sire 
Of love appro .ii;^ hears, and calls it good. 
Which way, Amanda, shall we bend our course ? 1400 
The choice perplexes. Wherefore should we choose ? 
All is the same with thee. Say, shall we wind 
Along the streams ? or walk the smiling mead f 
Or court the forest glades ? or wander wild 
Among the waving harvest ? or ascend, 1 <05 

While radiant Summer opens all its pride, 
Thy hill, delightful Shene ?* Here let us sweep • 
The boundless landscape : now the raptured eye, 
Exulting swift, to huge Augusta send ; 
Now to the Sister Hillst that skirt her plain, 1410 

To lofly Harrow now, and now to where 
Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow. 
In lovely contrast to this glorious view 
Calmly magnificent, then will we turn 
To where the silver Thames first rural grows 1415 
There let the feasted eye unwearied stray : 
Luxurious, there, rove through the pendent woods 
That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat ; 
And, stooping thence to Ham's embowering walks, 
Beneath whose shades, in spotless peace retired, 1420 
With Her the pleasing partner of his heart, 
The worthy Queensberry yet laments liis Gay, 
And polish'd Cornbury woos the willing Muse. 
Slow let us trace the matcnless Vale of Thames ; 
Fair-winding up to where the Muses haunt 1425 

In Twit'nam's^^owers, and for their Pope implore 
The healing God ;t to royal Hampton's pile, 
To Clermont's terraced height, and Eshers groves, 
Where in the sweetest solitude, embraced 
By the soft windings of the silent Mole, 1430 

From courts and senates Pelham finds repose. 

* The old name of Richmond, signifying, in Saxon, Shining 
w ^[^iendour. 
t Hi^hgaie and Hampstead. 1 1^ bis 1^^ sickness. 

7 



74 SUMMER. 

Enchanting vale ! beyond whate'er the Muse 

Has of" Achuia or Ilesperia sung ! 

O vale of bliss ! O softly swelling hills ! 

On which the Power of Cultivation lies, 435 

And joys to see the wonders of his toil. 

Heavens ! what a goodly prospect spreads around, 
or hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires, 
And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till all 
The stretching landscape into smoke decays! 1440 
Happy Britannia ! where the Queen of Arts, 
Inspiiing vigour. Liberty abroad 
Walks, unconfined, even to thy furthest cots, 
And scatters plenty with unsparing hand. 

Pfcich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime ; 1445 

Thy streams unfailing in the Summer's drought ; 
Unmatch'd thy guardian oaks ; thy valleys float 
With golden waves : and on thy mountains flocks 
Bleal numberless ! while, roving round the sides, 
Beiiow the blackening herds in lusty droves. 1450 

Beneath, thy meadows glow, and rise unquell'd 
Against the mower's scythe. On every hand 
Thy villas shine. Thy country teems with wealth , 
And property assure* it to the swain, 
Pleased and unwearied, in his guarded toil. 1459 

Full are thy cities with the sons of Ait ; 
And trade a-nd joy, in every busy street, 
Mingling are heard : e'en Drudgery himself, 
As at the car he sweats, or dusty hews 
The palace stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports, 
Where rising masts an endless prospeet yield, 1461 
With labour burn, and echo to the shouts 
Of hurried sailor, as he hearty waves 
His last adieu, and, loosening every sheet, 
Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind. T46S 

Bold, firm, and graceful are thy generous youth^s 
By hardship sinew'd, and by danger fired, 
Scattering the nations where they go ; and first 
Or on the lisped plain, or stormy seas. 



SUMMER 75 

Mild are thy g^lories too, as o er the plans 
Of thriving peace thy thoughttul sires preside ; 
In genius and sub^lanlial learning high ; 
For every virtue, every worth, renown d ; 
Sincere, plain-hearted, lu)spitable, kuid ; 
Yet like tlie umstering thunder when provoked, 147% 
The dread of tyrants, and the sole resource 
Of those that under grim oppression groan. 

Thy sons of Glory many ! Alfred thine, 
In whom the splendour of heroic war, 
And more heroic peace, when governed well, 1430 
Combine ; whose hallow'd name the Virtues saint, 
And his own Muses love ; the best of Kings ! 
With him thy Edwards and thy Henries shine. 
Names dear to fame ; the first who deep impress'd 
On haughty Gaul the terror of thy arms, 1485 

That awes her genius still. In statesman thou, 
And patriots, fertile. Thine a steady More, 
Who, with a generous though mistaken zeal, 
Withstood a brutal tyrant's useful rage, 
Like Cato firm, like Aristides just, 1490 

Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly poor, » 
A dauntless soul erect, who smiled on death. 
Frugal and wise, a Walsingham is thine ; 
A Drake, who made thee mistress of the deep, 
And bore thy name in thunder round the world. 1 105 
Then flamed thy spirit high : but who can speak 
The numerous worthies of the Maiden Reign.'' 
In Raleigh mark their every glory mixd ; 
Raleigh, the scourge of Spain ! wh.ose breast with edl 
The sage, the patriot, and the hero burn'd. 15(X/ 

Nor sunk his vigour, when a coward reign 
The warrior fetter'd, and at last resign'd, 
To glut the vengeanci of a vanquish'd foe. 
Then, active still and unrestrain'd, his mind 
Explored the vast extent of ages past, I50S 

And with his prison-hours enrich'd the Vv'orld ; 
Yet found no times, in all the lung research, 



70 SUMxMER. 

So glorious or so base as those he proved, 
In which he conquer'd, and in which he b\e>l. 
Nor can the Muse the gallant Sidney pas-s, 1511? 

Tho plume of war ! with early laurels v.rown'd, 
The lover's myrtle, and the poet's bay. 
A Hampden too is thine, illustrious land, 
Wise strenuous, firm, of unsubmittinij soul, 
Wl.o stemm'd the torrent of a downward Age 1515 
To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again, 
In ail thy native pomp of freedom bold. 
Bright, at his call, thy Age of Men etl'ulged, 
Of Men on whom late time a kindling eye 
Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read. 1520 
Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew 
The grave where Russel lies ; whose temper'd blood 
With calmest cheerfulness for thee resignd, 
S/ain'd the sad annals of a giddy reign ; 
Aiming at lawless power, thoucrh meanly sunk 152o 
In loose inglorious luxury. With him 
His friend, the British Cassius,* fearless bled : 
Of high detexmin'd spirit, roughly brave. 
By ancient learning to the' enlightend love 
Of ancient freea()m warm'd. Fair thy renown 1530 
In awful sages and in noble bards ; 
Soon as the light of dawning Science spread 
Her orient ray, and waked the Muses' sung • 
Thine is a Bacon ; hapless in his chf)ice, 
Ui.nt to stand the civil storm of state, 1535 

And through the smooth barbarity of courts, 
With firm but pliant virtue, forward still 
To urge his course : him for the studicnis shade 
Kind Nature form'd, deep, comprehensive, clear, 
Exact, and elegant : in one rich soul, IHIO 

Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully join'd. 
Tho great deliverer he ! who from the gloom 
Ofcloister'd monks, and jargon-teaching schools, 
liCd forth the true Philosophy, there lon^ 
* Algernon Sidney. 



SUMMER. 77 

field in the magic chain of words and forms, 1545 

And definitions void : he led her furth, 

Daughter of Heaven ! that slow ascending still, 

Investigating sure the chain of things, 

With radiant finger points to heaven again. 

Die generous Ashley* thine, the friend of man ; I5r>8 

Who scann'd liis nature with a brother's eye, 

PI is weakness prompt to shade, to raise his aim, 

To touch the finer movements of the mind, 

And with the moral beauty charm the heart. 

Why need I name thy Boyle, whose pious search, 1555 

Amid the dark recesses of his works. 

The great Creator sought ? And why thy Locke, 

Who made the whole internal world his own ? 

Let Newton, pure intelligence, whom God 

To mortals lent,, to trace his boundless works 1560 

From laws sublimely simple, speak thy fame 

In all philosophy. For lofty sense, 

Creative fancy, and inspection keen 

Through the deep windings of the human heart, 

Is not wild Shakspeare thine and Nature's boast .' 1565 

Is not each great, each amiable Muse 

Of classic ages in thy Milton met f 

A genius universal as his theme ; 

Astonishing as chaos, as the bloom 

Of blowing Eden fair, as heaven sublime ! 1578 

Nor shall my verse that elder bard forget, 

The gentle Spenser, Fancy's pleasing son ; 

Who, like a copious river, pour'd his song 

O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground: 

Nor thee, his ancient master, laughing sage, 1575 

Chaucer, whose native manners-painting verse. 

Well moralized, shines through the golhic cloud 

Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown. 

May my song soften, as thy daughters I, 
Britannia, hail ! for beauty is their own, 1581 

The feeling heart, simplicity of life, 

» A*«ilt<)iiv Ashley Cooper, Earl of" Shallesbuiy. 
7* 



I 



78 SUMMER. 

And elegance, and taste : the faultless f.>rn), 

Shaped by the hand of harmony ; the cheek 

Where the live crimson, through the native white 

Soft-shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom, 158S 

And every nameless grace ; the parted lip 

Like the red rosebud moist with morning dew 

lireathing delight ; and, under flowing jet, 

Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown, 

The neck slight-shaded, and the swelling breast : 1590 

The look resistless, piercing to the soul, 

And by the soul inform'd, when dress'd in love 

She sits high smiling in the conscious eye 

Island of bliss ! amid the subject seas, 
Th d thunder round thy rocky coasts, set up, 1395 
At once the wonder, terror, and delight 
Of distant nations ; whose remotest shores 
Can soon be shaken by thy naval arm ; 
Not to be shooK. thyself, but all assaults 
Baffling, as thy hoar cliffs the loud sea-wave. 1600 

O thou ! by whose Almighty nod the scale 
Of empire rises, or alternate falls. 
Send forth the saving Virtues round the land, 
In bright patrol : white Peace, and social Love ; 
The tender-looking Charity, intent 1605 

On gentle deeds, and shedding tears through smiles; 
Undaunted Truth, and dignity of mind ; 
Courage composed and keen ; sound Temperance, 
Healthful in heart and looks ; clear Chastity, 
With blushes reddening as she moves along, 1010 

Disorder'd at the deep regard she draws ; 
Rough Industry ; Activity untired, 
With copious life informed, and all awake . 
W^hile in the radiant front, superior shines 
That first paternal virtue. Public Zeal, 1619 

Who throws o'er all an equal wide survey. 
And, ever musing on the commonweal, 
Btill labours glorious with some great design. 

Low walks the sun^ and broadens by degrees, 



summ?:r. 7d 

Fust o'er the verge of day. The shifting clouds 1620 

Assembled gay, a richly fforgeous train, 

In all their pornp attend his setting throne. 

Air, earth, and ocean smile immense. And now, 

As if his weary chariot sought the bowers 

Of Amphitrit6 and her tending nymphs, 1G25 

(So Grecian fable sung,) he dips his orb ; 

Now half-immersed ; and now a golden curve 

Gives one briglit glance, then total disappears. 

For ever running and enchanted round, 
Passes the day, deceitful, vain, and void ; 1630 

As fleets the vision o'er the formful brain, 
This moment hurrying wild the' impassion'd soul, 
The noxt in nothing lost. 'Tis so to him. 
The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank : 
A sight of horror to the cruel wretch, 1635 

Who all day long in sordid pleasure roll'd, 
Himself a useless load, has squander'd vile. 
Upon his scoundrel train, what might have cheer'a 
A drooping family of modest v/orth. 
But to the generous still-improving mind, 1640 

That gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy. 
Diffusing kind beneficence around, 
Boa5tless as now descends the silent dew; 
To him the long review of ordev'd life 
Is inward rapture, only to be felt. 1645 

Confess'd from yonder slow-extinguished clouds, 
All other softening, sober evening takes 
Her wonted station in the middle air ; 
A thousand shadows at her beck. First this 
She sends on earth ; then that of deeper dye 165G 

Steals soft behind ; and then a deeper still, 
In circle following circle, gathers round, 
To close the face of things. A fresher gale 
Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream, 
Sweeping with shadowy gust tlie fields of corn, 16^9 
VVhiile the quail clamours for his runninop mate. 
W^ide o'ei the thistly lawn, as swells the breeze, 



so SUMMER. H 

A whitening tjhower of vegetable down < 

Ainusive floats. The kind impartial caro 

Of Nature nought disdains : tliouglitful to feed 1660 

Her lowest sons, and clothe the coining year, 

From field to field the feathcr'd seed she wings 

HiB folded flock secure, the shepherd home 
Hies merry-hearted : and by turns relieves 
The ruddy milkmaid of her brimming pail ; 166P 

The beauty whom perhaps his witless heart. 
Unknowing what the joy-mix'd anguish means, 
Sincerely loves, by that best language shown 
Of cordial glances and obliging deeds. 
Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height, 1670 
And valley sunk, and unfrequented ; where 
At lall of eve the fairy people throng, 
In various game, and revelry, to pass 
The summer night, as village stories tell. 
But far about they wander from the grave 1675 

Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urged 
Against his own sad breast to lift the hand 
Of impious violence. Tlie lonely tower 
Is also shunn'd ; whose mournful chambers hold, 
So night-struck fancy dreams, the yelling ghost. 1680 

Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge. 
The glowworm lights his gem ; and tlirough the dark 
A moving radiance twinkles Evening yields 
The world to Night ; not in her winter robe 
Of massy stygian woof, but loose array 'd 1685 

In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray. 
Glanced from the' imperfect surf>ices of things, 
Flings half an image on the strain'.ng eye ; 
While wavering woods, and villages, and streams. 
And rocks, and mountain tops, that long retain'd 1690 
The' ascending gleam, are all one swimming scene, 
Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven 
Thence weary vision turns ; where, leading soft 
The silent hours of lovo, with purest ray 
Bwpf^t Venus .shines* and from her g^eiiial rise. 169b 



SUMMER. 81 

When daylight sickens till it springs afresh, 
Unrivald reigns, the fairest lamp of Night. 
As thus the' elFulgence tremulous 1 drink, 
With cherish'd gaze, the lambent hghtnings shool 
Across the sky, or horizontal dart 1700 

In wondrous shapes : by fearful murmuring crowds* 
Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs, 
That more than deck, that animate the sky, 
The life-infusing suns of other worlds ; 
Lo ! from the dread immensity of space 1705 

Returning, with accelerated course, 
Thg rushing^comet to the sun descends ; 
And, as he sinks below the shading earth, 
With awful train projected o'er the heavens, 
The guilty nations tremble But, above 1710 

Those superstitious horrors that enslave 
The fond sequacious herd, to mystic faith 
And blind amazement prone, the' enlighten'd fevw 
Whose godlike minds Philosophy exalts, 
The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy 1715 

Divinely great ; they in their powers exult. 
That wondrous force of thought, which mounting spurns 
This dusky spot, and measures all the sky ; 
While, from his far excursion through the wilds 
Of barren etiier, faithful to his time, 1720 

They see the blazing wonder rise anew, 
In seeming terror clad, but kindly bent 
To work the will of all-sustaining Love ; 
From his huge vapoury train perhaps to shake 
Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs, 1725 

Through whicii his long ellipsis winds; perhaps 
To lend new fuel to declining suns. 
To light ip worlds, and feed the' eternal fire. 

With thee, serene Philosophy, with thee, 
And thy bright garland, let me crown my song • 1734 
Effusive source of evidence and truth ! 
A lustre shedding o'er the' ennobled mind, 
Stronger than summer noon ; and pure as that, 



82 SUMMER. 

Whose mild vibrations sooth the parted soul, 

New to the dawning of celestial day. 1733 

Hence through her nourishd powers enlarged by thoe, 

She springs aloft with elevated pricie ; 

Above the tangling mass of low desires, 

That bind the fluttering crowd ; and, angel-wing'd, 

The heiglits of science and of virtue gains, 1740 

Where all is calm and clear ; with Nature round, 

Or in the starry regions, or the' abyss, 

To Reason's and to Fancy's eye display'd : 

The First up tracing, from the dreary void, 

The chain of causes and effects to Him, 1745 

The world-producing Essence, who alone 

Possesses being ; while the Last receives 

The whole magnificence of heaven and earth, 

And every beauty, delicate or bold, 

Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense, 1750 

Diffusive painted on tlie rapid mind. 

Tutor'd by thee, hence Poetry exalts 
Her voice to ages; and informs the page 
With music, image, sentiment, and thought. 
Never to die ! the treasure of mankind ! 175n 

Their highest honour, and tlieir truest joy ! 

Without thee what were unenlightend Man? 
A savage roaming through the woods and wilds, 
In quest of prey : and witli the' unl;'sluon'd fur 
Rough clad ; devoid of every finer art 1760 

And elegance of life. Nor happiness 
Domestic, mix'd of tenderness and care, 
Nor moral excellence, nor social bliss, 
Nor guardian law were his ; nor various skill 
To turn the furrow, or to guide the tool 1761 

Mechanic ; nor the heaven-conducted prow 
Of navigation bold, that fearless brave;? 
The burning line or dares the wintry j)oIe ; 
Mother severe of infinite deliglits ! 
Nothing, save rapine, indolence, and guile, 1770 

A.nd woes on woes, a btill revolving train ' 



sijmmp:r. 83 

tVIi.i."»3 horrid circle Iiad made human hfe 

Tiian nonexislnrn'-e worse : but, taught by tlice. 

Ours are the plans of puUcy and peace ; 

To Uve Uke brulhnrs, and conjunctive all 1775 

Embellish life. While thus laborious crowds 

Ply tJie tough oar, Philosophy directs 

The ruling helm ; or like the liberal breath 

Of potent heaven, invisible, the sail 

Swells out, and l)ears the' inferior world alonjj. 1780 

Nor to this evanescent speck of earth 
Poorly confined, tlie radiant tracts on high 
Are her exalted range ; intent to gaze 
Creation througli ; and, from tnat full complex 
Of never ending wonders, to conceive 178i* 

Of the Sole li kino right, who spoke the Word, 
And Nature moved couiplete. With inward view, 
Thence on the' ideal kingdom swift she turns 
Her eye ; and instant, at her powerful glance, 
The' obedient phantoms vanish or appear ; 1790 

Compound, divide, and into order shift. 
Each to his rank, from plain perception up 
To the fair forms of Fancy's fleeting train : 
To reason then, deducing truth from truth ; 
And notion quite abstract ; where first begins 1795 
The world of spirits, action all, and life 
Unfetter'd and unmix'd. But here the cloud 
{So wills Eternal Providence) sits deep, 
Enough for us to know that this dark state, 
In wayward passions lost and vain pursuits, 1600 

This Infancy of Being cannot prove 
The final issue of the works of God, 
Fiy boundless Love and perfect Wisdom foTm'd) / 
Lnd ever rising with the rising mind. ' 



^/ :' 



AUTUMN. 



rhe iuhject prop.Bcd. Addressed to Mr. Onslow. A prospect v( 
the tioli's ready for harvnsi. Reflections in praise of Jnfu«)rj 
raised by that view. Keajdng. A tale relative to it. A hdrveisl 
Btotui. Slutotiug and liimiiiig, tliuir barbarity. A Icdiofous 
account of fox-hunting. A view of an orcliurd. Wall-fruit, Alt 
vineyard. A descrijition of fogs, frequent in the latter part ofa 
Autumn; wlience a digression, nujuiring into the rise of foun- 
tains and rivers. Birds of season consiilered, that now shift their 
haiiitativin. Tlie prodigious number of them that cover tljo 
noriiiern and western isl s of Sc»)lland. Hence a view of the 
fcounlry. A prospect of the discoloured, fading woods. After 
a gentle dusky day, moonlight. Autumnal meteors. Morning 
iO which succeeds a cahu, pure, sunshiny day, such as usually 
Bhuts up the season. The harvest being gatluTed in, the coun- 
try «!issojved in joy. The whole concludes with a panegyric on 
a philosophical country life. 



Crown'd with the sickle and the wheaten sheal, 
While Atittimn, nodding o'er the yellow plain, 
Comes jovial on ; the Doric reed once more, 
Well pleased, I tune. Whate'er the wintry frost 
Nitrous prepared ; the various blossom'd Spring 5 
Put in white promise forth ; and Summer suns 
Concoctei strong, rush boundless now to view 
Full, perfect all, and swell my glorious theme 
Onslow ! the Muse, ambitious of thy name, 
To grace, inspire, and dignify her song. 10 

Would from the public voice th_y gentle ear 
A while engage. Thy nohle care 8he knows, 
The patriot virtues that distend thy thought, 
Spread on thy front, and in thy bosom glow ; 
While listening senates hang upon thy tonguw, 15 
Devolving through the maze of eloquence 
A roll of periods sweeter than her song. 
But she too pants for public virtue, she, 
Though weak of power, yet strong in ardent will. 
Whene'er her country rushes on her heart, 20 



AUTUMi^. a 

Assarrrr.-. e bntder note, and tcndly tries 
To mix Ihr j&nl-fS' t^'ith the poet's flame. 

/WliC'.j \h-o ■' :i;;h^ Virgin gives the beauteous days. 
And Libra \v3*hs iii equal sjca'cs the year ; 
From heavpu-j higi' cope the fierce effulgence shook 
Of parting Suinmer, a serener Llus, 26 

With golden light enliven'd, wiic invests 
The happy world. Attemper'd sins arise, 
Swcet-bcam'd, and shedding eft. through lucid clouds 
A pleasing calm ; while broad, and brown, below 30 
Extensive harvests haif the heavy head. 
Rich, silent, deep, they stct.J ; for not a gale 
Rolls its light billov/s o'er the bent ing plain • 
A calm of plenty ! till the rufiled air 
Falls from its poise, and gives the breeze to b'low. 36 
Rent is tlie fleecy mantle of the sky ; 
The clouds fly different ; and the swdden sun 
By h*.s effulgent gilds the' illumined field. 
And black by fits the shadows sweep along. 
A gaily chequer'd heart-expanding view, 40 

Far as the circling eye cau si.oot a/ound, 
Unbounded tossing in a flood of corn. 

These are thy blessings. Industry ! rough power I 
Whom labour still attends, and sweat, and pain. 
Yet Iho kind source of every gentlu art, 46 

And all the soft civility of life : 
Raiser of humankind ! by Nature cast 
Naked, and helpless, out omid the woods 
And wilds, to rude inclement elements ; 
With various seeds of art deep in the mind 50 

Implanted, and profusely pour'd around 
Mi rials Infin'te ; but idle all. 
Stji imexertcd, in the' uiiconscious breast, 
Slept the lethargic powers ; Corruption still, 
Voracious, sv.^ailow'd whc *he liberal hand bit 

Of bounty scatter'd o'er the savage yeai : 
And s*,ill the sad barbarian, roviag, inix'd 
With beasts of prey ; or for his acorn-meal 
8 



86 AUTUMN. 

Fought the iierce tuskj boar : a shivering wretch , 
Agliast and comfortless, when the bleak north, (JO 

With V/inter ch.irged, let the mix'd tempest fly, 
Hail, rain, and enow, and bitter-Lreatl»ng frost .- 
Then to the shelter of the hut he flsd ; 
And the wild season, sordid, pined away. 
For h.o:ne he had not ; home Is the resort 61 

Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty, where, 
Supporting and supported, polish d friends 
And dear relations mingle into oliss. 
But this the rugged savage never felt, 
E'en desolate in crowds ; and thus his days 70 

Roll d heavy, dark, and unrnjoy'd along : 
A waste of time ! trll Industry approachd, 
And roused him from his n.iserable sloth ; 
His faculties unfolded ; pointed out 
Where lavish Nature the d.recting hand 75 

Of Art demanded ; show'd him how to raise 
His feeble force by the mechanic powers, 
To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth ; 
On what to turn tho piercing rage of nre ; 
On wiiat the torrent, and the gather'd blast ; 80 

Gave the tall ancient forest to his axe ; 
Taught him to cliip the wood, and hew the stone 
Till by degrees the finish'd fabric rose ; 
Tore from his limbs the blood- polluted frr, 
And wrapp'd them in the woolly vestment warm, 85 
Or bright in glossy silk and tiowing lawn ; 
With wholesome viands fiU'd his table ; pour'd 
The generous glass around, inspired to wake 
The life refining soul of decent wit : 
^or stopp'd at barren bare necessity ; 90 

But still advancing bolder, led him on 
To pomp, to pleasure, elegance, and grace ; 
And, breathing high ambitioa through his soul. 
Bet science, wisdom, glory, m his view, 
And bade him be the Lord of all below. 96 

Then gathering men their natural powers coml>ined| 



AUTUMN. 87 

And form'd a Public , to the general good 
BubiniUiiig, aimiiiff, and conducting all. 
Fof Lfus the P^riot-Council met, the full, 
The fi -e, andlairly represented Whole ; 100 

For Ihif Lhey plann'd the holy guardian laws, 
Distinguish'd orders, anijnated arts, 
And with joint force Oppression chaining, set 
Imperial Justice at the helm ; yet still 
To tliem accountable : nor, slavish, dream'd 105 

Thai toiling millions must resign their weal, 
.'t-'d all the honey of their search, to such 
As ioT themselves alone themselves liave raised. 

Hence every form of cultivated life 
In order set, protected, and inspired, 110 

Into perfection wrougiit. Uniting all, 
Society grew numerous, high, polite, 
And happy. Nurse of art ! the city rear'd 
In beauteous pride her tower-encircled head ; 
And, stretcl" ing street on street, by thousands drew, 
From twining woody haunts, or the tough yew 116 
To bows strong-straining, her aspiring sons. 

Then coamierce brought into the pu'jlic walk 
The busy merchant ; the big warehouse built ; 
Raised the strong crane ; choked up the loaded street 
With forcig-i plenty; and Ihy stream, O Thames, 121 
Large, gentle, deep, majestic, king of floods ! 
Chose for his grand resort On eith^^r hand, 
Like a long wintry forest, groves of masts 
Shot up their spires j the bellying sheet between 125 
Posstss'd the breezy void : the sooty hulk 
Steer'd sluggish on ; the splendid barge along 
Row'd, regular, to harmony ; around, 
Tkie boat, light-skimming, stretch'd its oary wings , 
While deep the various voice of fervent toil 130 

From bank to bank increased ; whence ribb'd with oak, 
To bear tlio British thunder, black and bold, 
The roaring vessel rusli'd into the main. 

Then too the pillar'd dome, magnific^ heaved 



88 AUTUMN. 

Its ample roof; and l^uxury within ' 133 

Pour'd out her jrliUuring stores : the canvass smooth. 

With glowing hfe protuberant, to tlie vikw 

Embodied rose ; tlie statue seem'd to bjleatlie. 

And soften into flesh, beneath the touch 

Of forming art, imagination flush'd. 110 

All is the gift of Industry ; whate'er 
Exalts, embellishes, and renders life 
Delightful. Pensive Winter cheer'd by him 
Sits at the social fire, and happy hears 
The' excluded tempest idly rave along ; )t5 

Tlis harden'd fingers deck the gaudy Spring ; 
Without him Summer were an arid waste ; 
Nor to the' Autumnal months could thus transmit 
Those full, mature^ innnea&arable stores, 
That, waving round, recal my wandering song. 150 

Soon as the m.^rning trembles o'er the sliyA 
And, unperccived, unfolds the spreading day ;j 
Before the ripen'd field th3 reapers stand, 
In fair array ; each by the lass he loves. 
To bear the rougher part, and mitigate 15S 

By nameless £;entle ofilces her toil. 
At once they stoop and swell tlie lusty shenvos; 
While through their cheerful band the rural talk, 
The rural scandal, and the rural jest. 
Fly harmless, to deceive ll.e tedious time, 160 

And steal unfe't the sultry hours away. 
Behind the master walks, builds up the shocks; 
And, conscious, glancing oft on every side 
His sated eye, feels fiis heart heave with juy. 
The gleaners spread around, and here and tiiere, 1Gb 
Spike after spike, their scanty harvest pick. 
Be not too narrow, husbandmen ! but llmg 
From the full sheaf, with charitable ste*Jth, 
The liberable handful. Think, oh grateful think ! 
How good the God cf Harvest is to you ; 170 

Who pours abundance o'er your flowing fields ; 
While these unhai)pv partners of youi kind 



AUTUMN. 89 

Wide-hover round you, like tl.e fowls of heaven, 
And ask their humble dole. The various turns 
Of fortune pond^ir ; that your sons may want 175 

What now, with hard reluctance, faint ye give. 
The lovelj young Lavinia once had friends j 
And Fortuie smiiled, deceitful, on her birth. 
For, in her helpless years deprived of all, 
OF every stay, save Innocence and Heaven, 180 

Sh«, WTf.n her widow'd mother, feeble, old, 
And poor, lived in a cottage, far retired 
Autor&g the windings of a v/oody vale ; 
hy solitude and deep surrounding shades. 
But more by bashful rwyMiiy, conceal'd. 185 

fogether thus they shun.i'd the cruel scorn 
Which virtue, sunk to poverty, would meet 
From giddy passion and low-minded pride • 
Almost on Nature's common bounty fed ; 
Like the gay birds tJiat sung them to repose, 190 

Content, and careless of to-morrow's fare. 
Her form was fresher than the morning rose 
When the dew wets its leaves ; unstam'd and pure, 
As is the lily or the mountain-snow./ 
The modest virtues mingled in her'eyes, 195 

Still on the ground dejected, darting all 
Their humid beams into the blooming flowers • 
Or \ hen the mournful tale her mother told. 
Of wiiat her faithless fortune promised once, 
Thrill'd in her thought, they, like the dewy star 200 
Of evening, shone in tears. A native grace _ 
Sat fair-proportion'd on her polish'd limbs, 
Veil'd in a simple robe, their best aLlire, 
Beyond the pomp of dress ; for loveliness 
Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, 205 

But is, when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most. 
Thoughtless of beauty, slie was Beauty's self, \ 
Recluse amid the close-embowering woods. 
As in the hollow breast of Apennine, 
1i«jncath ihe shelter of encircling hills, 21tt 

8* 



90 AUTUMN. 

A myrtle rises, far from huinnii eye, 

And breathes its balmy frairrance o'er the wild ; 

So flourish'd blooming, and unseen by all, 

The sweet Lavinia ; till, at length, compeli d 

By strong Necessity's supreme command, 31 

With smiling patience in her looks, she went 

To glean Palemon's fields. The pride of swains 

Palemon was, the generous and the rich ; 

Who led the rural life in all its joy 

And elegance, such as Arcadian song 220 

Transmits from ancient uncorrupted times ; 

When tyrant custom had not shackled man, 

Bdt free to follow Nature was the mode. 

He then, his fancy with autumnal scenes 

Amasing, chanced beside his reaper-train 226 

To walk, when poor Lavinia drew his eye ; 

Unconscious of her power, and turning quick 

With unaffected blushes from his gaze : 

He saw her charming, but he saw not half 

The charms her downcast modesty conceal'd. 230 

That very moment love and chaste desire 

Sprung in his bosom, to himself unknown ; 

For still the woild prevaild, and its dread laugh, 

Which scarce the firm philosopher can scorn, 

Should his heart own a gleaner in the field ; 235 

And thus in secret to his soul he sigh'd : — 

" What pity ! that so delicate a form, 
By beauty kindled, where enlivening sense 
And more than vulj^ ar goodness seem to dwell, 
Should be devoted to the rude embrace 240 

Of some indecent clown ; she looks, methinks^ 
Of old Acasto's line ; and to my mind 
Rccals that patron of my happy life. 
From whom my liberal fortune took its rise ; 
Now to the dust gtme down.; his houses, lands, 245 
And once fair-spreading family, dissolved. 
Tis said, that In some lone obscure retreat, 
CJrged by remembrance !:ad, and decent pride, 



i 



AUTUMN. 91 

Far from tli(*se ?cenes wliich knew their better days, 
His aged widow and his daughter live, 250 

Whom yet my fruitless search could never find 
Romantic wish ! would this the daughter were !" 

When, strict inquiring, from herself he found 
She was t!ie same, the daughter of his friend, 
Of bountiful Acasto ; v/ho can speak 255 

The mirgled passions that surprised his heart. 
And through his nerves in shivering transport ranr 
Then blazed his smothcr'd flame, avow'd, and bold ; 
And as he view'd her, ardent, o'er and o'er, 
Love, gratitude, and pity wept at once. SHO 

Confused, and frighten 'd at his sudden tears, 
Her rising beauties flush'd a higher bloom, 
As thus Palemon, passionate and just, 
Pour'd out the pious rapture of his soul : 

" And art thou then Acasto's dear remains ? 26ii 
She, whom my restless gratitude has sought, 
So long in vain ? O heavens ! the very same, 
The softend image of my noble friend, 
Alive his every h)ok, his every feature, 
More elegantly touch d. Sweeter than Spring! 270 
Thou sok^ surviving blossom from the root 
That nourish'd up my fortune ! say, ah wliere, 
In what rfC'iuester'd desert, hast thou drawn 
The kindest aspect of delighted heaven ? 
Into such beauty spread, and blown so fair ; 275 

Though Foverty's cold wind and crushing rain 
Beat keen and heavy on thy tender years .' 
O, let me now into a richer soil 

Transplant thee safe ! where vernal suns an.l shjwers 
'diffuse their v/armest, largest influence ; 280 

And of my garden be the pride and joy ! 
Ill it befits thee, oil, it ill befits 
Acasto's daughter, his, whose open stores, 
Though vast, were little to his ampler heart, 
The father of a country, tlius to pick 285 

The very refuse of those harvest-fields 



52 AUTUMN. 

Wliich from hjs bounteous friendship I enjoy. 

Then throw that shameful pittance from thy hand. 

But i!l a|)|)ly'd to such a rugged task ; 

Tlie fisicls, the master, all, my fair, are thine : 2!)0 

If to the various blessings which th}' house 

Has on me lavished, thou wilt add that bliss, 

Tnat dearest bliss, the power cf blo»sing thee !" 

Here ceased the youth : yet still his sreaking eye 
Expressd the sacred triumph of his soul, 29S 

With conscious virtue, gratitude, and love, 
Above the vulgar joy divinely raised. 
Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm 
Of goodness irresistible, and all 

In sweet disorder lost, she blush "d consent. 300 

The news immediate to her mother brought. 
While, pierced with anxious thought, she pined awar 
The lonely moments for Laviaia's fate : 
Ama;^d, and scarce believing what she heard, 
Joy seized her wither'd vcine, and one bright gleam 
Of setting life shone on her evening hours : 306 

Not Ijss enraptured than the happy pair ; 
Who flourish'd long in tender biiss, and rear'd 
A numerous offspring, lovely like themselves, 
And good, the grace of all the country round. 310 

Defeating oft the labours of the year. 
The sultry south collects a potent blast. 
At first, the groves are scarcel}' seen to stir 
Their trembling tops ; and a still murmur runs 
Along the soft-inclining fiields of corn. 315 

But as the aerial tempest fuller swells, 
And in one mighty stream, invisible, 
Immense, the whole excited atmosphere 
Impetuous rushes o'er the sounding world ; 
Slraiii'd to the root, the stooping forest pours 320 

A rustliiiii shower of yet untimely leaves. 
High-heat, the circling mountains eddy in, 
From the bare wild, the dissipated storm, 
And send it in a torrent down the vale. 



AUTUMN. 93 

Exposed, and naked to its utmost rage. 325 

Through all the sea of harvest roihng round, 

The billowy plain floats wide ; nor can evade, 

Though pliant to the blast, its seizing force , 

Or whirl d in air, or into vacant chafT 

Shook waste. And sometime? too a burst of rain li30 

Swept from the black horizon, broad, descends 

In one continuous flood. Still overhead 

Tlie minijling tem^jest weaves its gloom, and still 

The deluge deepens ; till the fields around 

Lie snjik and flatted in the sordid wave. 335 

Sudder, tiie ditches swell ; the meadows swim. 

Red, from the hills, innumerable streams 

Tumultuous roar ; and high above its banks 

The river lift ; before whose rushing tide. 

Herd?, flocks, and harvests, cottages, and swains, 3'10 

Roll mingled down ; all that the winds had ppared 

In ono wild moment, ruin'd ; the big hopes 

And well earn'd treasures of th? painful year. 

Fled to some eminence, the husbandman 

Helpless beholds the miserable wreck 345 

Driving along ; his drowning ox at once 

I>jsccnding, with his labours scatter'd round. 

He sees ; and instan*, o'er his shivering thought 

Comes Winter unprovided, and a train 

Of cJaimant children dear. Ye masters, then, 350 

Be mindful of the rough laborious hand 

"<iat sinlcs you soft in elegance and ease j 

Be mindful of those limbs in russet clad, 

iVhose toil to yours is warmth and grateful prido , 

And, oh ! be mindful of that sparing board, C55 

Which covers yours with luxury profuse, 

ydakes your glass sparkle, and your sense rejoice ! 

Nor cruelly demand what the deep rains 

And all involving winds have swept away. 

Here the riule clamour of the sportsman's joy, 3G0 
The gun fast thundering, and liie winded horn, 
' Vould tempt .he Muse lo sing the rural game : 



94 AUTUMN. 

How in his mid career the spaniel struck, 
Stiff, by the tainted gale, with open nose, 
Outstrelcii'd, and finely sensible, draws Cull, ^S^ 

Feart'ul, iund cautious, on the latent [»rey ; 
As in tiie sun the circling covey bask 
Their varied plumes, and, watchful every way, 
Throujrh the rough stubble turn the secret eye. 
Caught in the meshy snare, in vain tliey be^iv 370 

Their idle wings, entangled more and more : 
Nor on the surges of the boundL'ss air, 
Though borne triumphant, are they safe ; the gun, 
Glanced just and sudden from the fowler's eye, 
O'ertakes their sounding pinions • and again, 375 

Immediate, brings them, from the towering wing. 
Dead to the ground ; or drives the:n wide-dispersed, 
Wourded, and wheeling various, down the wind. 
These aro not subjects for the peaceful Muse, 
Nor will she stain v.'ith such lier spotless song : 3-HO 
Then most delighted, when sh3 social sees 
The whole mix'd animal creation round 
Alive and happy. 'Tis not joy to her, 
This falsely cheerful barbarous game of death, 
This rage of pleasure, which tlie restless youth 385 
Awakes, impatient, with the gleaming morn • 
When beasts of prey retire, that all night luntr, 
Urged by necessity, had ranged the dark. 
As if their conscious ravage shunn'd the light, 
Ashamed. Not so the steady tyrant Man, 390 

Who, with the thoughtless insolence of power 
Inflamed, beyond the most infuriate wratli 
or the worst monster that e'er rocim'd the waste, 
For sport alono pursues the cruel chase, 
Amid the beamings of the gentle days. IH?5 

Upbraid, ye ravening tribes, our wanton rage, 
For hunger kindles you, and lawless want ; 
But lavi'^h fed, in Nature's bounty roii d. 
To joy at anguish, and deligiit in blood, 
\8 what your Jiorria bosoms never knew. 4W> 



AUTUMN. 95 

Poor (3 tlie triumph o'er the timid hare ! 
Scared from tiie corn, and now to some lone seat 
RetireJ ■ tlie ruahy fen ; the ragged furze, 
Stretch'd o'er tlie stony heath ; the stubble chapt , . 
The thistly lawn •, the thick entangled broom : 403 
Of the s;une friendly hue, the vvither'd fern ; 
The fallow ground laid open to the svm, 
Concoctive ; and the nodding sandy bank, 
Il'mg o'er the mazes cf the mountain brook. 
Vain is her best pracaution ; though she sits 410 

Conceal'd, with folded oars ; unsleeping eyes, 
By Nature raised to take the' horizon in ; 
And head couch'd close betwixt her hairy feet, 
Jn act to spring away. The scented dew 
Betrays her early labyrinth ; and deep, 415 

In scatter'd sullen openings, far behind. 
With every breeze she hears the coming storm. 
But nearer, and more frequent, as it loads 
The sighing gale, she springs amazed, a.;d all 
The savage soul of game is up at once : 420 

The pack full-opening, various ; the shrill horn, 
Resounded from the hills ; the neighing steed, 
Wild for the chase ; and the loud hunters shout ; 
O'er a weak, harmless, flymg creature, all 
Mix'd in mad tumult and discordant joy. 425 

The stag, too. singled from the herd, where long 
He ranged the brandling monarch of the shades, 
Before the tempest drives. At first, in speed 
He, sprightly, puts his faith ; and, roused by fear, 
Gives all Ids swift atrial soul to flight : 43(1 

Against the breez3 he darts, that way the more 
To leave the lessening uiurderous cry behind . 
Deception short ! though fleeter than the winds 
Blown o'er tlie keen-air "d mountain by the north, 
He bursts the thickets, glances through the gladte, 43? 
And plunges deep into the wildest wood ; 
If slow, yet sure, adhesive to the track 
Hot-steaming, up behind him come again 



96 AUTUMN. 

The' mhurnan rout, and from the shady depth 
Expel hiiii, circling through his every shift, 440 

^ He sweeps the forest oft ; and sobbing sees 
The glades, mild opening to the golden day ; 
Where, in kind contest, with his butting friends 
He v.'ont to struggle, or his loves enjoy. 
Oft in the full-descending flood he tries 4*5 

To lose the scent, and lave his burning sid^a : 
Ofl seeks the herd ; the watchful herd, alari.a'l. 
With selfish care avoid a brother's woe 
What shall he do ? His once sc vivid nerves, 
So full of buoyant spirit, now no more 4r»0 

Insj)ire the course ; but fainting breathless toil, 
Sick, seizes on his heart : he stands at, l;ay ; 
And puts his last weak refwge in despair. 
The big round tears run down his dappled face ; 
He groans in anguish : while the growlii.gj- pack, 45.^) 
Blood-happy, hang at his fair jutting chest. 
And mark his beauteous checq'ier'd sides with gore. 

Of this enough. But if the silvan youth. 
Whose fervent blood boils into violence, 
Must have the chase ; behold, despising flight, 4G0 
The roused-up lion resolute and slow, 
Advancing full on the protevided spear 
And coward-band, that circling wheel aloof. 
Slunk from the cavern and the troubled wood, 
See the grim wolf; on him his shaggy foe 465 

Vindictive fix, and let the ruffian die : 
Or, growling horrid, as the brindled boar 
Grins fell destruction, to the monster's heart 
Let the dart lighten from the nervous arm. 

These Britain knows not ; give, ye Britons, then 
Vour sportive fury, pitiless, to pour 471 

Loose on the nightly robber of the fold ; 
Him, from his craggy winding haunts unearth'd, 
Let all the thunder of the chase pursue. 
Throv/ the broad ditch behind you ; o'er the hedge 
High-bound, resistless ; nor the deep morass 476 



AUTUMN. 97 

Refuse, but dirough the shaking wilderness 
Pick your nice way ; into the perilous flood 
Bear fearless, of the raging instinct full ; 
And as you ride the torrent, to the banks 48C 

Your triimiph sound sonorous, running round 
Froii.. rock to rock, in circling echoes toss'd ; 
Then scale the rriountains to their woody tops ; 
Rush down he dangerous steep ; and o'er the lawn, 
In faifcy ssvallowing up the space between, 48r» 

l*our all your speed into the rapid game. 
Fo;- happy he ! who tops the wheeling chase ; 
' ..i every maze evolved, and every guile 
: losed ; who knows the merits of the pack ; 

ao saw the villain seized, and dying hard, 490 

Without complaint, though by a hundred mouths 
Relentless torn : O glorious he, beyond 
His daring peers ! when the retreating horn 
Calls them to ghostly halls of gray renown, 
With woodland honours graced ; the fox's fur, 495 
Depending decent from the roof; and spread 
Round the drear walls, with antic figures fierce, 
The stag's large front : he then is loudest heard, 
When the night staggers with severer toils, 
With feats Thessalian Centaurs never knew, 500 

And their repeated wonders shake the dome. 

But first the fuei'd chimney blazes wide ; 
The tankards foam ; and the strong table groans 
Beneath the smoking sirloin, stretch 'd immende 
From side to side ; in which, with desperate knife, 505 
They deep incision make, and talk the while 
Of England's glory, ne'er to be defaced 
While hence they borrow vigour • or amain 
Into the pasty plunged, at intervals. 
If stomach keen can intervals allow, 51f 

Relating all the glories of the chase. 
Then sated Hunger bids his brother Thirst 
Produce the mighty bowl ; the mighty bowl, 
Swell'd high with fiery juice, steams liberal round 
9 



98 AUTUMN. 

A potent g"ale, delicious as the orcatli 51i 

Of Maia to tlie lovesick shepherdess, 

On violets ditlased, while soft she hears 

Her panting shepherd stealing to her arms. 

Nor wanting is the brown October, drawn. 

Mature and perfect, from his dark retreat 529 

Of thirty years ; and now his honest front 

Flames in the light refulgent, not afraid 

E'en with the vineyard's best produce to vie. 

To cheat the thirsty moments, Whist awhile 

Walks his dull round, beneath a cloud of smoke, 525 

Wreathed, fragrant, from the pipe ; or the quick dice, 

In thunder leaping from the box, awake 

The sounding gammon : while romp-loving miss 

Is hauld about in gallantry robust. 

At last these puling idlenesses laid 530 

Aside, frequent and full, the dry divan 
Close in firm circle ; and set, ardent, in 
For serious drinking. Nor evasion sly 
Nor sober shift is to the puking wretch 
Indulged apart ; but earnest, brimming bowls 535 

Lave every soul, the table floating round, 
And pavement, faithless to the fuddled foot. 
Thus as they swim in mutual swill, the talk, 
Vociferous at once from twenty tongues. 
Reels fast f-om theme to theme ; from horses, hounds, 
To church or mistress, politics or ghost, 541 

In endless mazes, intricate, perplex'd. 
Meantime, with sudden interruption, loud. 
The' impatient catch bursts from the joyous heart ; 
1 hat moment touch 'd is every kindred soul ; 543 

And, opening in a full-mouth'd cry of joy, 
The laugh, the slap, the jocund curse go round ; 
While, from their slumbers shook, the kennel'd hounds 
Mix in the music of the day again. 
As when the tempest, that has vex'd the deep 550 

The dark night long, with fainter murmurs falls ; 
So gradual sinks their mirth. Their feeble tonofues 



AUTI.MN. 99 

Unable to take up the cumbrous word, 
Lio tjuitu ilissolvad. Before tlieir maud'in eyes 
Seen dim and blue, the double tapers dance 555 

Like the sun wading ihroutrb the misty sl^'. 
Then, sliding soft, they drop. Confused abov3, 
Glasses and bottles, pipes and gazetteers, 

'^ As if the tabiv i'en itself was drunk. 

Lie a wet li*- :<en scene ; and wide, below, 560 

' Is heap'(i i' i- social slaughter: where asiride 
The lubber lower in filthy triumph sits, 
Sluvnberous, inclining still from side to side, 

1/i.nd . Iccps them drench 'd in potent sleep till morn 
Perhaps some doctor, of tremendous paunch, 5C5 

Awful and deep, a black abyss of drink, 
Outlives them all ; and from his buried flock 
Retirmg, full of rununation sad, 
Laments the weakness of these latter times. 

But if the rougher sex by this fierce sport 570 

Is luirried wild, let not such horrid joy 
E'er stain the bosom of the British Fair. 
Far be the spirit of the chase from them ! 
Uncomely courage, unbeseeming skill ; 
To spring the fence, to rein the prancing steed, 575 
The cap, t)ie whip, the masculine attire ; 
In which they roughen to the sense, and all 
7 Tlie winning softness of .heir sex is lost. 
In them 'tis graceful to dissolve at woe ; 
With every motion, every word, to wave 58^ 

Quick e'er the kindling cheek the ready blush , 
And from the smallest violence to shvink 
Unequal, then the loveliest in their fears ; 
And by this silent adulation, soft. 
To their protection more engaging Man. 585 

may their eyes no miserable sight, 
' Save weeping lovers see ! a nobler game, 

Through love's enchanting wiles pursued, yet fled, 

In cliase arr^iguous. May their tender limbs 

Floiit in the loose simplicity of dress ' 59^ 



100 AUTUMN. 

And, fashion'd all to harmony, alone 

Know they to seize the captivated soul, 

In rapture warbled from love-breathing lips , 

To teach the lute to languish ; with smooth stop^ 

Disclosing motion in its every charm, 595 

To swim alonir, and swell the mazy dance ; 

To train the foliage o'er the snowy lawn ; 

To guide the pencil, turn tJie tuneful page ; 

To lend new flavour to the fruitful year, 

And heignten Nature's dainties: in their race COO 

To rear their graces into second life ; 

To give society its highest taste ; 

Well ordcr'd home man's best delight to make ; 

And by submissive wisdom, modest skill, 

With every gentle care-eluding art, 605 

To raise the virtues, animate the bliss. 

And sweeten all the toils of human life • 

This be the female dignity and praise. 

Ye swains, now hasten to the hazel-bank ; 
Where, down yon dale, the wildly winding brook 610 
Falls hoa-se from steep to steep. In close array, 
Fit for the thickets and the tangling shrub, 
Ye virgins, come. Fur 3'ou their latest song 
The woodlands raise ; the clustering nuts for you 
The lover iinds amid the secret shade ; G15 

And, wliore they burnish on ..he topm(*st bough, 
With active viirour crushes down the tree ; 
Or shakes them ripe from the resigning husk, 
A glossy shower, and of an ardent brown, 
As are the ringlets of Melinda's hair : fi^ti 

Melinda ! form'd with every grace complete. 
Vet these neglecting, above beauty wise, 
And far transcending such a vulgar praise. 

Hence from the busy joy-resoundii.g fields, 
In cheerful error, let us tread the maze G2S 

Of Autunm unconfined ; and taste, revived, 
The breath of orchard big with bending fruit. 
Obedient to the breeze and beating ray, 



AUTUMN. 101 

From the dee]>-loaJed bough a mellow shower 
Incessant melts away. The juicy pear 630 

Lies in a sot't profusion scattbr'd round. 
A various sweetness swells the gentle race ; 
By Nature's all refining hand prepared ; 
Of temper'd sun, and water, earth, and air, 
In ever changing composition mix'd. C3a 

Such, falling frequent through the chiller night, 
The fragrant stores, the wide-projected heaps 
Of apples, which the lusty-handed Year, 
Innuraerous, oer the blushing orchard shakes. 
A various spirit, fresh, delicious, keen, 640 

Dwells in their gehd pores ; and, active, points 
The piercing cider for the thirsty tongue : 
Thy native theme, and boon inspirer too, 
Philips, Pomona's bard, the second thou 
Wiio nobly durst, in rliyme-unfetter'd verse, 64S» 

With British freedom sing the British song : 
How, from Sdurian vats, high-sparkling wines 
Foam in transparent floods ; some strong, to cheer 
The wintry revels of the labouring hind ; 
And tasteful some, to cool the summer hours. 650 

In this glad season, while his sweetest ^»eams 
The sun sheds equal o'er the meeken'd day ; 
Oh, lose me in the green delightful walks 
Of, Doddington, thy seat, serene and plain, 
Where simple Nature reigns ; and every view, 655 
Diifusive, spreads the pure Dorsetian downs, 
In boundless prospect ; yonder shagg'd with wood. 
Here rich with harvest, and there white with flocks 
Meantime the grandeur of thy lofty dome. 
Far splendid, seizes on the ravish'd eye. GGO 

New beauties rise with each revolving day, 
New columns swell ; and still the fresh Spring finds 
New plants to quicken, and new groves to green, 
Full of thy genius all ! the Muses' seat ; 
Where, in the secret bower and winding walk, 663 
Tor virtuous Young and thee they twine the bay. 
9* • 



>02 AUTUMN. 

Here wandering oft, fired with the restless thirst 

01' thy applause, I solitary court 

The' inspiring breeze : a.nd meditate the book 

Of ?^ature ever open ; aiming thence, 67C 

Warm from the heart, to learn the moral song. 

Here, as I steal along the sunny wall 

Where Autumn basks, with fruit empurpled deep, 

My pleasing theme continual prompts my thouglit : 

Presents the downy peach ; the shining plum ; G75 

The ruddy, fragrant nectarine ; and dark, 

Beneath his ample leaf, the luscious fig. 

The vme too here her curling tendrils shoots ; 

Hangs out her clusters, glowing to the south ; 

And scarcely wishes for a warmer sk3^ 680 

Turn we a moment Fancy's rapid flight 
To vigorous soils and climes of fair extent ; 
Where, by the potent sun elated high. 
The vin'^yard swells refulgent on the day ; 
Spreads o'er the vale ; or up the mountain climbs, 68? 
Profuse ; and drinks amid the sunny rocks, 
From cliff to cliff increased, the heighten d blaze. 
Low bend the weighty boughs. The clusters clear, 
Half through the foliage seen, or ardent flame. 
Or shine transparent ; while perfection broatlies 690 
White o'er tiie turgent film the living dew. 
Afthus they brighten with exalted juice, 
Touch'd into flavour by the mingling ray ; 
The rutal youth and virgins o'er the field. 
Each fond for each to cull the' autumnal prime, 605 
t^.Kulting rove, and speak the vintage nigh. 
Then comes the crushing swain; the country floats, 
And foams unbounded with the mashy flood ; 
That, by degrees fermented and refined, 
Round the raised nations pours the cup of joy: 7W 
The claret smooth, red as the lip we press 
In sparkling fancy, while we drain the bowl; 
The mellow-tasted burgundy ; and, quick 
A.S is the wit it gives, the gay champagne. 
• 



AUTUMN. 103 

Now, by the cool decliiiins; year condensed, 705 
Descend the copious exhalations, check 'd 
As up the middle sky unseen they stole, 
And roll the doubling fogs around the hill 
No more the mountain, horiid, vast, sublime, 
Who pours a sweep of rivers from his sides, 71d 

And high between contending kingdoms rears 
The rocky long divisir-n, fills the view 
With great variety ; but in a night 
Of gathering vapour, from the baffled sense 
Siaks dark and dreary. Tiience expanding far, 715 
The huge dusk, gradual, swallows up the plain 
Vanish, the woods : the dim-seen river seems 
Sullen, and slow, to roH the misty wave. 
E'en in the height of noon oppress'd, the sun 
Sheds weak and blunt his wide-refracted ray ; 726 
Whence glaring oft, with many a broaden'd orb. 
He frights the nations. Indistinct on earth. 
Seen tlirough the turbid air, beyond the life 
Objects appear ; and, wilder'd, o'er the waste 
The shepiierd stalks gigantic. Till at last T&* 

Wreathed dun arour d, in deeper circles still 
Successive closing, sits the general fog 
Unbounded o'er the world ; and, mingling thick, 
A formless gray confusi(m covers all. 
As when of old (so sung the Hebrew Bard) 730 

Light, uncollected, through the chaos urged 
Its infant way ; nor Order yet had dravn 
His lovely train from out the dubious gloom. 

These roving mists, that constant now begin 
To smoke along the hilly country, thesr, 735 

With weiglity rains, and melted Alpine snows, 
The mounlain cisterns fill, those ample stores 
Of water, scoop'd among the hollow rocks ; 
Whence gush the streams, the ceaseless fountain.s play 
And their unfailing wealth the rivers draw. 740 

Some sages say, that, where the numerous wave 
Vor ever lashes the resoundintr shore, 



104 AUTUMN. 

Drill'd through the sandy stratum, every way, 

The waters with the sandy stratum rise ; 

Amid whose angles infinitely strain'd, 74B 

They joyful leave their jaggy salts behind, 

And clear and sweeten as they soak along. 

Nor stops the restless fluid, mounting still, 

Though oft amidst the' irriguous vale it sprmgs ; 

But to the mountain courted by the sand, 750 

That leads it darkling on in faithful maze, 

Far from the parent main, it boils again 

Fresh into day ; and all the glittering hill 

Is bright with spoutmg rills. But hence this vain 

Amusive dream ! why should the waters love 755 

To take so far a journey to the hills. 

When the sweet valleys offer to their toil 

Inviting quiet and a nearer bed ? 

Or if, by blind ambition led astray. 

They must aspire ; why should they sudden stop 7fi0 

Among the broken mountain's rushy dells, 

And, ere they gain its highest peak, desert 

The' attractive sand that charm'd their course so long ? 

Besides, the hard agglomerating salts, 

The spoil of ages, would impervious choke 765 

Their secret channels ; or, by slow degrees. 

High as the hills protrude the swelling vales : 

Old Ocean too, suck'd through the porous globe, 

Had long ere now forsook his horrid bed. 

And brought Deucalion's watery times again. 770 

Say then, where lurk the vast eternal springs, 
That, like creating Nature lie conceal'd 
From mortal eye, yet with their lavish stores 
Refresh the globe and all its joyous tribes ! 
O thou pervading Genius, given to man, 775 

To trace the secrets of the dark Abyss, 
O, lay the mountains bare ! and wide display 
Their hidden structure to the' astonish'd view ! 
Strip from the branchi ig Alps their piny lead ; 
The huge incumbrance of horrific woods 780 



AUTUMN. lOa 

From Asian Taurus, from linaus stretch'H 

Aihwart the roving Tartar's sullen bounds ! 

Give opiinmg Hemus to my searching eye, 

And high Olympus pouring many a stream ' 

O, from the sounding summits of the north, 785 

The Dorfrine hills, through Scandinavia roU'd 

To farthest I^apland aud the frozen main ; 

From lofty Caucasus far seen by those 

Who in the Caspian and black Euxine toil ; 

F-om cold Riphean rocks, which the wild Russ 79fi 

Pielieves the stony girdle* of the world : 

And all the dreadful mountains, wrapp'd in storm, 

Whence wide Siberia draws her lonely floods ; 

O, sweep the' eternal snows' Hung o'er the deep, 

That ever works beneath his sounding base, 795 

Bid Atlas, propping Heaven, as poets feign, 

His subterranean wonders spread ! unveil 

The miny caverns, blazing on the day, 

Of Abyssinia's cloud-compelling cliffs, 

And of the bending Mountainst of the Moon ! 800 

O'ertupping all these giant sons of earth. 

Let the dire Andes, from the radiant line 

Stretch'd to the stormy seas that thunder round 

The southern pole, their hideous deeps unfold ! 

Amazing scene I behold ! the glooms disclose, 805 

1 see the rivers in thoij infant beds I 

Deep, deep I hear them labouring to get free , 

1 see the leaning strata, artful ranged ; 

The gaping fissures to receive the rains, 

The melting snows, and ever dripping fogs. Bib 

Strow'd bibulous above 1 see the sands, 

The pebbly gravel next, the layers then 

Of mingled moulds, of more retentive eartlis. 

The gutter'd rof'ks and mazy-running clefts , 

*The lyiuscoviies ''all the Kiplienii IVIou/itains Weii/ci Cd- 
tnenypoijs , tliai is, the ^reat stem/ (win/le : lu-cause ihey 3U{>- 
pose them lo encompass llie vvliole earth. 

t A range of mountains in Africa, tli?vl surround almost a| 
\loiioniolapa« 



106 AUTUMN. 

That, whila the stealing moisture they transmit, 815 

Retard its motion and forbid its waste. 

Beneath the' incessant weeping of these drains, 

I see the rocky siphons strelch'd immense, 

The mighty reservoirs, of harden'd chalk. 

Or stiff compacted clay, capacious form'd • 8S0 

O'erflowing thence, the congregated stores, 

The crystal treasures of the liquid world, 

Through the stirr'd sands a bubbling passage bunil, 

And, welling out, around the middle steep, 

Or from the bottoms of tiie bosom'd hills, 825 

In pure effusion flow. United, thus, 

The' exhaling sun, the vapour-burden'd air, 

The gelid mountains, that to rain condensed 

These vapours in continual current draw. 

And send them, o'er the fair-divided earth, 830 

In bounteous rivers to the deep again, 

A social commerce hold, and firm support 

The full adjusted harmony of tilings. 

"When Autumn scatters his departing gleams, 
Warn'd of approaching Winter, gather'd, play 835 
The swallow-people ; and, toss'd wide around. 
O'er the calm sky, in convolution swift. 
The feather'd eddy floats : rejoicing once, 
Ere to their wintry slumbers they retire ; 
In clusters clung, beneath the mouldering bank, 840 
And where, unpicrccd by frost, the cavern sweats. 
Or rather into warmer climes convey'd, 
With other kindred birds of season, there 
I'hey twitter cheerful, till the vernal months 
Invite them welcome back : for, thronging, now 816 
Innunierous wings are in commotion all. 

Where the Rhine loses his majestic force 
In Belgian plains, won from the raging deep. 
By diligence amazing and the strong 
Unconquerable hand of Liberty ; 85C 

The stork-assembly meets ; for many a day, 
Consulting deep, and various, ere they take 



AUTUMN. 107 

Their arduous voyage tlirough the liquid sky. 
Aind now their route design'd, their leaders chose, 
Their tribes adjusted, clean'd their vigorous wings •, 
And many a circle, many a short essay, 856 

Wheeld round and round, in congregation full 
The figured flight ascends ; and, riding high 
The' aerial billows, mi.'^es with the clouds. 

Or where the Northern ocean, in vast whirls, 660 
Boils round the naked melancholy isles 
Of furthest Thule, and the' Atlantic surge 
Pours in among the stormy Hebrides ; 
Who can recount what transmigrations there 
Are annual made ' what nations come and go ? 865 
And how the living clouds on clouds arise .'' 
Infinite wings ! till all the plume-dark air. 
And rude resounding shore are one wild cry. 

Here the plain harmless native his small flock, 
And herd diminutive of many hues, S7f* 

Tends on the little island's verdant swell. 
The shepherd's seagirt reign ; or, to the rocks 
Dire-clinging, gathers his ovarious food ; 
Or sweeps the fishy shore ! or treasures up 
The plumage, rising full, to form the bed 875 

Of luxury. And here awhile the muse, 
High hovering o'er the broad cerulean scene, 
Sees Caledonia, in romantic view : 
Her airy mountains, from the waving main, 
Invested with a keen diffusive sky, 88C 

Breathing the soul acute ; her forests huge, 
Incult, robust, and tall, by Nature's hand 
rianted of old ; her azure lakes between, 
Pour'd out extensive, and of watery wealth 
Full ; winding deep, and green, her fertile vales ; 88? 
With many a cool translucent brimming flood 
Wash'd lovely, from the Tweed (pure parent stream 
IVhose pastoral banks first heard my Doric reed, 
Wiih, silvan Jed, thy tributary brook) 
To where the north-inflated tempest foams 89 



108 AUTUMN. 

O'er Orca's or Betubium's highest peak: 

Nurse of a people, in Mitforlune's school 

Train 'd up to hardy deeds ; soon visited 

By Learning, when before the gothic rage 

She took her western flight. A manly race ^^ 

Of unsiibmitting spirit, wise, and brave ; 

Who still through bleeding agRS struggled hard, 

(As well unhappy Wallace can attest, 

Great patriot hero! ill requited chief.) 

To hold a generous undiniinish'd state ; 900 

Too much in vain ' Hence of imequal bounfar 

'mpatient, and by tempting glory borne 

O'er every land, for every land their life 

Has flow'd profuse, their piercing genius plann'd, 

4nd swell'd the pomp of peace their faithful toil, 905 

As from their own clear north, in radiant streams, 

Bright over Europe bursts the boreal morn. 

Oh ! is there not sonie patriot, in whose power 
That best, that godlike luxury is placed. 
Of blessing thousands, thousands yet unborn, 910 

Through late posterity ? some, large of soul, 
To cheer dejected industry.'' to give 
A double harvest to the pining swain ? 
And teach the labouring hand the sweets of toil ? 
How. by the finest art, the native robe 915 

To weave ; how, white as hyperborean snow. 
To form the lucid lawn ; with venturous oar 
How to dash wide the billow ; nor look on, 
Shamefully passive, while Batavian fleets 
Defraud us of the glittering finny swarms, 939 

That heave our friths and crowd upon our shores ; 
How all -enlivening trade to rouse, and wing 
The prosperous sail, from every growing port, 
Unir.jured, round the sea-encircled globe ; 
And thus, in soul united as in name, 925 

Bid Britain reign the mistress of the deep.? 

Yea, there are such. And full on thee, Argyle 
Her hope, her slay her darling, and her boast. 



AUTUMN. 109 

From her first patriots and her lieroes sprung, 
Thy fond imploring country turns her eye ; 9311 

In thee, with all a mother's triumph, sees 
Her every virtue, every grace combined. 
Her genius, wisdom, her engaging turn, 
Her pride of honour, and her courage tried, 
Cahii, and intrepid, in the very throat iKifl 

Of sulphurous war, on Tenier's dreadful field. 
Nor less the palm of peace inwreathes thy brow . 
For, powerful as thy sv/ord, from thy rich tongue 
Persuasion flows, and wins the high debate ; 
Whilrt TTiix'd in thee combine the charm of youth, 940 
The force of manhood, and the depth of age. 
Thee, Forbes, too, whom every worth attends, 
As truth sincere, as weeping friendship kind. 
Thee, truly generous, and in silence great. 
Thy country feels through her revivmg arts, 94h 

Plann'd by thy wisdom, by thy soul inform'd ; 
And seldom has she known a friend like thee. 

But see the fading many colour'd woods, 
Shade deepening over shade, the country round 
Imbrown ; a crowded umbrage, dusk, and dun, 05*) 
Of every hue, from wan declining green 
To sooty dark. These now the lonesome Muse, 
Low whispering, lead into their leaf-strown walks, 
Ard give the Season in its latest view. 

Meantime, light-shadowing all, a sober calm 95ft 
Fleeces unbounded ether : whose least wave 
Stands tremulous, uncertain where to turn 
The gentle current : while illumined wide^, 
The dewy-skirted clouds imbibe the sun, 
And through their lucid veil his soften'd force OfiO 
Shed o'er the peaceful world. Then is the time. 
For those whom Wisdom and whom Nature charm, 
To steal themselves from the degenerate crowd, 
And soar above this little scene of things : 
To tread low-thoughted Vice beneath their feet : 965 
10 



no AUTUMN. 

To sooth the throbhing passions mto peact; ; 
And woo lone Quiet in her silent vvnlhs. 

Thus solitary, and in pensive guise, 
Ofl let nie wander o'er the russet rnead, 
And through the sadden'd grove, where scarce ia heorl 
One dying strain, to cheer the woodman's toil. y?l 
Haply some widow'd songster pours his plaint. 
Far, in laint warblings, through t))c tawny copse • 
While congregated thrushes, linnets, larks, 
And each wild throat, whose artless strains ?•> rAte 
Swell'd all the music of the swarming shacu . . !)76 
Robb'd of their tuneful souls, now shivering s!' 
On the dead tree, a dull despondent fioCK ; 
With not a brightness waving o'er their plumes, 
4nd nought save chattering discord in their note. 980 
O, let not, aim'd from some inhuman eye, 
The gun the music of the coming year 
Destroy ; and harmless, unsuspectiua: harm, 
Lay the weak tribes a miperable prey, 
In mingled murder, fluttermg on the ground ! 9^ 

The pale-descending year, yet pleasing still, 
A gentler mood inspires ; for now the leaf 
Incessant rustles from the mournful grove ; 
Oft startling such as, studious, walk below, 
And slowly circles through the waving air. 9D0 

But should a quicker breeze amid the boughs 
Sob, o'er the sky the leafy deluge streams ; 
Till, choked and matted with the dreary shower, 
The f«)rest-walks, at everv rising gale, 
Roll wide the wither'd waste, and whisllo bleak. OOf! 
Fled is the blasted verdure of the fields ; 
And, shrunk into their beds, the flowery race 
Their «unny robes resign. E'en wha.t remam'd 
Of stronger fruits falls from the naked tree ; 
And woods, fields, gardens, orchards, all around 1001 
The desolated prospect thrills the soul. 

He comes ! he comes ! in every breeze the PowM 



AUTUMN. Hi 

Of pliilosophic Melarchol}' coine;; 
His near approach tlie sudden-start iiig tear, 
Tlic glowing cheek, the inild dejected air, 1005 

I'he soflen'd feature, and the beating heart, 
Pierced deep witli many a virtuous pai\g, declare. 
O'er all the soul his sacred intluence broalh.;s . 
Inflames imagination ; through the breast 
Infuses every teruicrrr;;ss ; and far tOJO 

Beyond dim earth exalts the swelling thought 
Ten thousTiid thousand fleet ideas, such 
As nevt»r mingled with the vulgar dream, 
Crowd last into' the mind's creative eye. 
As fast the correspondent passions rise, 1015 

As varied, and as high : Devotion raised 
To rapture and divine astonishment ; 
The love of Nature, unconfmcd, and, chief, 
Of human race ; the large ambitious wish, 
To make them bless'd ; the sigh for sutTering wortn 
Lost in obscurity ; the noble scorn 1021 

Of tyrant pride ; the feailess great resolve ; 
The wonder which the dying patriot draws, 
Inspiring glory through remotest time ; 
The' awaken "d throb for virtue and for fame ; 1()25 
The sympathies of love and friendship dear • 
With all the social offspring of the heart. 

Oh ! bear me then to vast embowering shades, 
To twilight groves, and visionary vales ; 
To weeping grottoes, and prophetic glooms ; 1030 

Where angel forms athwart the solemn dusk 
Tremendous sweep, or seem to sweep along ; 
And voices more than human, through the void 
Deep sounding, seize the' enthusiastic ear ! 

Or is this gloom too much ' Then lead, ye powers 
That o'er the garden and the rural seat WM 

Preside, which shining through the cheerful land 
In countless numbers blessd Britannia sees; 
O, ead oie to Uie wide extended walks, 



112 AUTUMN. 

The fair majcttic paradise of Stowe !* 134% 

Not Persian Cyrus on Ionia's siiore 
E'er saw such silvan scenes ; such various art 
By genius fired, such ardent genius tainet' 
By cool judicious art ; that, in the strife 
All-beauteous Nature fears to be undone 1045 

And there, O Pitt, thy country's ea.r\y boast, 
There let ii:e sit beneath the shelter'd slopes, 
Or in that Templet where, Ln future tunes, 
Thou wellehalt merit a distinguished name ; 
And, with thy converse bless'd, catcli tlie last smileB 
Of Autumn beaming o'er the yellow woods. 105? 

While there with thee the' enchanted round I walk. 
The regulated wild, gay Fancy then 
Will tread in thought the groves of attic land ; 
Will from thy standard taste refine her own, 1055 
Correct her pencil to the purest truth 
Of Nature, or, the unimpassiond shades , 
Forsaking, raise it to the human mind. 
Or if hereafter she, with justcr hand, 
Shall draw the tragic scene, instruct her, thou, 1060 
To mark the varied movements of ilie heart. 
What every decent character retjuires. 
And every passion speaks : O, through her strain 
Breathe thy pathetic eloquence ' that moulds 
The' attentive senate, charms, persuades, exalts, 1005 
Of honest Zeal the' indignant lightning throws, 
And shakes Corruption on her venal throne. 
While thus we talk, and through Elysian vales 
Delighted rove, perhaps a sigh escapes 
What pity, Cobham, thou thy verdant files i07V 

Of order'd trees shouldst here inglorious range. 
Instead of squadrons flaming o'er the fiel«l, 
And long embattled hosts ! when the proud foo, 
The faithless vain disturber of mankind, 
* The seal of Lord CoDliain. 
T The Temple of Virtue in Stowe iiardena 



AUTUMN. m 

Insulting Gaul, has roused the world to war ; 1075 
When keen, unee more, within their bounds to pres* 
Those [nilishd rfihhers, tliose ambitious slaves, 
The British youth would liail thy wise command. 
Thy ten)[)er'd ardour, and thy veteran skill. 

The western sun withdraws the shortcnd day ; 
And hujnid Evening, gliding o'er the sky, 108) 

Id her chill progress, to the ground condensed 
'j'he vapours throws. Where creeping waters ooze, 
Where marsl\es stagnate, and where rivers wind. 
Cluster the rolling fogs, and swim along lOST 

The dusky mantiod lawn. Meanwhile the Moon 
Full-orb'd, and breaking through the scatter'd clouds, 
Shows her broad visage in the crimson east. 
Turn'd to the sun direct, her spotted disk. 
Where inountains rise, umbrageous dales descend. 
And caverns deep, as optic tube descries, lOPl 

A smaller earth, gives us his blaze again, 
Void ol' its riame, and sheds a softer day. 
Now through the passmg cloud slie seems to stoop, 
Now up the pure cerulean rides sublime. 109ii 

Wide the pale deluge floats, and streaming mild 
U er the skied mountain to the shadowy vale, 
While rocks and floods reflect the quivering gleam. 
The whole air whitens with a boundless tide 
Of silver radiance, trembling round the world. 1100 

But when, half blotted from the sky, Iier light, 
Fainting, permits the starry fires to burn 
With keener lustre through the depth of heaven ; 
Or near extinct her deaden'd orb appears, 
And scarce appears, of sickly beamless white; 1105 
Oft. in this ses ion, silent from the north 
A blaze of meteors shoots ; ensweeping first 
The lower skies, they all at once converge 
High to the crown of heaven, and all at once 
Relapsing quick, as quickly reascend, 1118 

\nd mix and thwart, extinguish and renew, 
Vil ether coursing in a maze of light 



114. AUTUMN. 

From look to look, contagious through the crowd. 
The panic runs, and into wondrous shapes 
The' appearance throws : armies in meet array, 1115 
Throng d with aerial spears and steeds of fire, 
Till the long lines of full extended war 
Ir. bleeding fight commix'd, the sanguine flood 
Rolls a broad slaughter o'er the plains of heaven. 
As thus they scan the visionary scene, 1120 

On all sides swells the superstitious din, 
Incontinent ; and busy frenzy talks 
Of blood and battle ; citiesoverturn'd, 
And late at night in swallowing earthquake sunk, 
Or hideous wrapp'd in fierce ascending flame j 1125 
Of sallow famine, inundation, storm : 
Of pestilence, and every great distress ; 
Rmpires subversed, when ruling fate has strucli 
The' unalterable hour : e'en Nature's self 
Is deem'd to totter on the brink of time. 1130 

Not so the man of philosophic eye. 
And inspect sage ; the waving brightness he 
Curious surveys, inqviisitive to know 
The causes and materials, yet unfix'd. 
Of this appearance beautiful and new. 1135 

Now black and deep the night begins to fall, 
A shade immense. Sunk in the quenching gloeiii. 
Magnificent and vast, are heaven and earth. 
Order confounded lies ; all beauty void ; 
Distinction lost ; and gay variety 1140 

One universal blot : such the fair power 
Of light, to kindle and create the whole. 
Drear is the state of the benighted wretch. 
Who then, bewilder'd, wanders through the dark, 
Full of pale fancies and chimeras huge ; 1145 

Nor visited by one directive ray. 
From cottage streaming or from airy hall. 
Ferhaps impatient as he stum.bles on, 
Struck from the root of slimy rushes, blue, 
The wildiiro scatters round, or gather'd trails 115fl 



AUTUMN. lj|/ 

/I length of flame deceitful o'er the moss : 
Whither df>coy'd by the fantastic blaze, 
Now lost and now renew'd, ho sinks absorb'd, 
Rider and horse, amid the miry gulf: 
Wnile still, from day to day, his pining wife 1155 

And plaintive children his return await, 
In wild conjecture lost. At other times, 
Sent by the better genius of the night, 
Innoxious, gleaming on the horse's mane, 
The meteor sits ; and shows the narrow path, 1160 
That winding leads through pits of death, or else 
Instructs him liow to take the dangerous ford. 

'I'he lengthen'd night elapsed, the Morning shines 
Serene, in all her dewy beauty bright. 
Unfolding fair the last autunmaJ day. 11Gb 

And now the mounting sun dispels the fog ; 
The rigid hoar-frost melts before his beam ; 
And hung on every spray, on every blade 
Of grass, the myriad dew-drops twinkle round. 111>S 

Ah, see where, robb'd and murder'd, in that pit 
Lies the still heaving hive ! at evening snatch'd, 
Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night. 
And fix'd o'er sulphur : while, not dreaming ill, 
The happy people, in their waxen cells, 
Sat tending public cares, and planning schemes 1175 
Of temperance, for Winter poor ; rejoiced 
To mark, full flowing round, their copious stores. 
Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends ; 
And, used to milder scents, the tender race. 
By thousands, tumble from their honied domes, 11^ 
Convolved, and agonizing in the dust. 
And was it then for this 3'-ou rcam'd the Spring, 
Intent from flower to flower ? for this you toil'd 
Ceaseless the burning Summer heats away ? 
For this in Autumn search'd the blooming waste, 
Nor lost on3 sunny gleam ? for this sad fate ? 1186 
O Man! tyrannic lord ! how long how long 
Shall prostrate Nature groan beneath your rage, 



IIG AUTUMN 

Awaiting; renovation ? when obliged, 

Must yovj destroy ? of their ambrosial food J19tJ 

Can you not borrow ; and, in just return 

Afford tluMii slielier from the wintry winds ; 

Or, as the sharp year pinches, with their own 

A^ain regale tliem on some smiling day ? 

See where the stony bottom of their town ]19!> 

Looks desolate and wild ; with here and there 

A helpless number, who the ruin'd state 

Survive, lamenting weak, cast out to death. 

Thus a proud city, populous and rich, 

Full of the works of peace, and high in joy, 1200 

At theatre or feast, or sunk in sleep, 

(As late, Palermo, was thy fate) is seized 

By some dread earthquake, and convulsive hurl'd 

Sheer fron» the black foundation, stench-involved, 

Into a gulf of blue sulphureous flame, 1205 

Hence every harsher sight ! for now the day. 
O'er heaven and earth diifuscd, grows warm and high. 
Infinite splendour ! wide investing all. 
How still the breeze ! save what the filmy threads 
Of dew evaporate brushes from the plain. 1210 

How clear ihe cloudless sky ! how deeply tinged 
With a peculiar blue ! the' etherial arch 
How swelld immense! amid wliose azure throned 
The radiant sun how gay ! how calm below 
The gihled earth! the harvest treasures all 1215 

Now gather'd in, beyond the rage of storms. 
Sure to the swain ; the circling fence shut up ; 
And instant Winter's utmost rage defied. 
'iVhile, loose to festive joy, the country round 
Laughs with the loud sincerity of mirth. 1220 

Shook to the wind their cares. The toil-strung youth, 
By the quick sense of music taught alone, 
Leaps wildly graceful in the lively dance. 
H"r every charm abroad, the village-toast, 
fouiiff, buxom, warm, in native beauty rich, 1225 

wiirU not unmeaning looks ; and where her eye 





1 



AUTUMN. in 

rointa an approving smile, with double force, 
The cudgel rattles, and the wrestler twines. 
Age too shines out ; and, garrulous, recounts 
The feats of youth. Thus they rejoice ; nor think 
That, with to-morrow's sun, their annual toil 1231 
Begins again the never ceasing round. 

Oh, knew he but his Irippiness, of men 
The happiest he ! ivlio fpr from public rage, 
Deep in the vale, with a choice few retired, 1235 

Drinks the pure pleasures of the Rural Life. 
What though the dome be wanting, whose proud gate* 
Each morning, vomits out the sneaking crowd 
Of flatterers false, and in their turn abused ? 
Vile intercourse ! what though the glittering robe 
Of every hue reflected light can give, 1241 

Or floating loose, or stifl'with mazy gold. 
The pride and gaze of fools ! oppress him not ? 
What Lhough, from utmost land and sea purvey'd, 
For him each rarer tributary life 1145 

Bleeds not, and his insatiate table heaps 
With luxury, and death ? What though his bowl 
Flames not with costly juice ; nor sunk in beds, 
Oflt of gay care, he tosses out the night. 
Or melts the thoughtless hours in idle state -* 1250 
What though he knows not those fantastic joys 
That still amuse the wanton, still deceive ; 
A face of pleasure, but a heart of pain ; 
Their hollow moments undelighted all ? 
Sure peace is his ; a solid life, estranged 1255 

To disappointment, and fallacious hope : 
Rich in content, in Nature's bounty rich, 
In herbs and fruits ; whatever greens the Sprmg, 
When heaven descends in showers; or bends the bough 
When Summer reddens, and when Autumn beams ; 
Or in the wintry glebe whatever lies 126 

Conceal'd, and fattens with the richest sap : 
These are not wanting ; nor the milky drove, 
L^ixuriant, spread o'er all the lowing valo ; 



118 AUTUMN. 

Nor bleatiiig mountains ; nor the chide of sireamn, 

And hi!in of bees, inviting sleep sincere 1*,JG6 

Into tlie guiltless breast, beneath tiie shade, 

Or thrown at lartre amid the fragrant hay ; 

Nor aught besides of prospect, grove, or song, 

Dim grottoes, gleaming lakes, and fountam clear. 

f lore too dwells simple Truth ; plain Innocence j 1271 

Unsullied Beauty ; sound unbroken Youth, 

Patient of labour, with a little pleased ; 

[ieallh ever blooming ; unambitious Toil , 

Calm Contemplation, and poetic Ease. 1275 

Let others brave the flood in quest of gain, 
And beat, for joyless months, the gloomy wavu 
Let such as deem it glory to destroy, 
Rush into blood, the sack of cities seek ; ^ 

Unpierced, exulting in the widow's wail, 1260 

The virgin's shriek, and infant's trembling cry. 
Let some, far distant from their native soil, 
Urged or by want or harden'd avarice, 
Find other lands beneath another sun. 
Let this through cities work liis eager way, 1285 

By legal outrage and establish'd guile. 
The social sense extinct ; and that ferment 
Mad into tumult the seditious herd, 
Or melt them down to slavery. Let these 
Insnare the wretched in the toils of law, l2CHt 

Fomenting discord, and perplexing right, 
An iron race ! and those of fairer front, 
But equal inhumanity, in courts. 
Delusive pomp and dark cabals, delight ; 
Wreathe the deep bow, diffuse the lying smile, 129«i 
And tread the weary labyrinth of state. 
While he, from all the stormy passions free 
•f hat restless men involve, liears, and but hears, 
At distance safe, the human tempest roar, 
Wrapp'd close In conscious peace. The fall of kingSj 
The rage of nations, and the crush of states 1301 

i/!ove not the man who, from the woild escaped, 



AUTUMN. ll» 

In St ill retr(!ats, and flowery solitudes, 
To INaliire's voire attends, from aioiilh to month 
And day to day, through the revolving year : 130t 

Admirmg, sees her in her every shape ; 
Feels al! iier sweet emotions at his lieart ; 
Tak'.'s what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more. 
He, wlien young Spring protrudes the buroting gems, 
Marks the first bud. and sucks the healthful gale 1310 
Into his freshen'd soul ; her genial hours 
lie full enjoys ; and not a beauty blows, 
And not an opening blossom breathes in vam, 
In Summer he, beneath the living shade, 
Such as o'er frigid Tempo wont to wave, 1315 

Or Hemuscool, reads what the Muse, of these, 
Perhaps, is in immortal numbers sung ; 
Or what sue dictates writes : and, oR an eye 
Shot round, rejoices in the vigorous year. 
When Autumn's yellow lusrre gilds tiie world, 1320 
And tempts the sickled swain into the field, 
Seized by the general joy, his heart distends 
With gentle throt'^s ; and. through the tepid gleams 
Deep musing, then he best exerts his song. 
E'en Winter wild to him is full of bliss. 1325 

The mighty tempest, and the hoary waste, 
Abru])t, and deep, stretch'd o'er the buried earth. 
Awake to solenm th(,ught. At night the skies, 
Disc-osed, and kindled, by refining frost, 
Pour every lustre on tne' exalted eye. r33fl 

A friend, a book, the stealing hours secure. 
And mark them dov/n for wisdom. With swift wing 
O'er land and sea imagination roams ; 
Or truth, divinely breaking on his mind, 
Elates his being, and unfolds his powers ; 1335 

Or in his brenst heroic virtue burns. 
The tojch of kindred too and love he feels*, 
The modest eye, whose beams on his alone 
Ecslatic shine ; the little strong embrace 
Of prattling children, twined around his neck, 1340 



120 AUTUMN. 

And emulojs to please him, calling forth 

The fond parental soul. Nor purpose gay, 

Annisement, dance, or song, he sternly scornH ; 

For happiness and true philosophy 

Are of the social, still, and smiling kind. I34fc 

This IS the life which these who fret in guilt, 

And guilty cities, never knew ; the life, 

Led by primeval ages, uncorrupt. 

When Angels dwelt, and God liiniself v^it'i Man : 

Oh Nature i all sufficient ! over all ! 1350 

Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works ! 
Snatch me to heaven ; thy rolling wonders there 
World beyond world, in infinite extent, 
Profusely scatter'd o'er the blue immense, 
Show me ; their motions, periods, and their laws, 
Give me to scan ; through the disclosing deep 135(5 
Light my blind way ; the mineral strata there ; 
Thrust, blooming, thence the vegetable world ; 
O'er that the rising system, more complex, 
Of animals ; and higher still, the mind, 1360 

The varied scene of quick-compounded thought, 
And where the mixing passions endless shift ; 
These ever open to my ravish 'd eye ; 
A scearch, the flight of time can ne'er exhaust ! 
But if to that unequal ; if the blood, 1366 

In sluggish streams about my heart, forbid 
That be it ambition ; under closing shades, 
Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook. 
And whisper to my dreams. From Thee begin. 
Dwell all on Thee, with Thee conclude my song , 
And lot me never, never stray from The-.- .' 137] 



WINTER. 



Tlie 8iif)|ocl proposwi. Address to the Earl of Wilmington. First 
approach of Winter Acoording to the natural course of th« 
season, various storms described. Rain. Wind. Snow. The 
driving of the snows ; a man perishin" among them ; wnence re- 
flections on the .vants and miseries of human life. Tlie wolvos 
descending fri.m the Alps and A|>ennine3. A winter-evening 
de9cril)€d ; as spent by philosophers ; by the country people , in 
thecitv. Frost. A view of Winter within th»i polar circle. A 
thaw. " Fhe whole concluding with moral reflections on a future 
•tato. 



See, WrNTER comes, to rule the varied year, 

Sullen and sad, with all his rising train ; 

Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms. Be these my them© 

These ! that exalt the soul to solemn thought, 

And heavenly musing. Welcome, kindred glooms, 5 

Congenial horrors, hail ! with frequent foot, 

Pleased have I, in my cheerf il morn of life, 

When nursed by careless Solitude I lived, 

And sung of Nature with unceasing joy, 

Pleased have I wander'd through your rough domain ; 

Trod the pure virgin-snows, myself as pure ; 11 

Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burst ; 

Or seen the deep-fermenting tempest brew'd, 

In the grim evening sky. Thus pass'd the time, 

Till through the lucid chambers of the south 15 

Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out, and smiled. 

To thee, the patron of her first essay, 
The Muse. O Wilmington ! renews her song. 
Since nas she rounded the revolving year : 
Skimm'd the ^ay Spring ; on eagle pinions borne. St 
Attempted through the summer blaze to rise ; 
Tiien swept o'er Autumn with the shadowy gale • 
And now among the wintry clouds again. 
11 



122 WINTER. 

Roll'd in the diiihling storm, she tries to soat , 

To swell her note A'ith all the rushing winds, 2h 

To suit her soundmg cadence to the floods , 

As is her theme, her numbers wildly great : 

Thrice liappy coul»i she fill thy judging ear 

With bold descriptun and with manly tliought 

Nor art thou skill'd in awful schenies aloue, 3<* 

And how to make a mighty people thrive : 

Hut equal goodness, sound inteorl. , 

A firm iinshaken uncorrupted soul 

Amid a sliding age, and burning strong, 

Not vainly blazing, for thy country's weal, 35 

A steady s[>;rit regularly free ; 

These, each exalting each, the statesman light 

Into the patriot ; these, the public hope 

And eye to thee converting, bid the Muse 

Record what envy dares not flattery call. 40 

Now when the cheerless empire of the sky 
To Capricorn the Centaur Archer yields, 
And fierce Aquarius stains the' inverted year , 
Hung o'er the furthest verge of heaven, the tun 
Scarce spreads through ether the dejected day. 45 
Faint are his gleams, and inefl'cctual shoot 
His strugrrlirig rays, in horizontal lines, 
Through the thick air ; as ch^thed in cloudy storm, 
Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the southern sky ; 
And, soon descending, to the long dark night, 50 

Wide-shading all, the prostrate world resigns. 
Nor is the night unwish'd ; while vital heat. 
Light, life, and joy the dubious day forsake. 
Meantime, »n sable cincture, shadows vast, 
Deep-tinged and damp, and congregated clouds, 56 
And all the vapoury turbulence of I'eaven. 
[nvolve the face of things. Thus Winter falb, 
A heavy gloom oppressive o'er the world, 
7'hroiigh Nature shedding influence malign, 
And reuses up the seeds of dark disease. 06 

The soul of man dies in him, loathing lifo, 



WINTER. ^2^ 

/nd black wim more than melancholy views. 
The cattle droop ; and o'er the furrow'd laud, 
Fresh from the {dough, the dun discolour'd flocks, 
Untended spreadinjr, crop the wholesome root. 65 

Alon;^ the woods, along the moorish fens, 
Siirhs the sad Genius of the coming storm : 
And up among the loose disjointed cliffs, 
And fractured !A:^i:ntains wild, the brawling brocK 
And cave, pre-sageful, send a hollow moan, 70 

Resoundmg V\ig in listening Fancy's ear. 

Tlien comes the father of the tempest forth, 
Wrapp" i in black glooms. First joyless rains obscure 
Drive liirough the mingling skies with vapour foul ; 
Dash on the mountain's brow, and shake the woods, 75 
That grumL.ing wave below. The' unsightly plain 
Lies a brown deluge ; as the low-bent clouds 
Pour i\oo(i on llood, yet unexhausted still 
Combine, and deepening into niglit shut up 
The day's fair face. The wanderers of heaven, 80 
Each to liis home, retire ; save those that love 
To take their pastime in the troubled air. 
Or skimming tlutter round the dimply pool. 
The cattle trom the' untasted fields retirn, 
'And ask, with meaning lowe, their wanted stalls, 8?t 
Or rumii.ate in the contiguous shade. 
Thither the household feathery people crowd, 
The crested cock, with all his female train, 
Pensive, and dripping ; while the cottage-hind 
Hangs o'er the' enlivening blaze, and talei'ul there 90 
Recounts his simple frolic: much he talks, 
And mucli he laughs, nor recks the storm that bluWi 
Without, and rattles on his humble roof 

Wide o'er the brim, with many a torrent swell d, 
And the mixd ruin of its banks o'ersj)read, 95 

At last the roused-up river pours along : 
Resistless, roaring, dreadful, down it comes, 
From the rude mountain, and the mossy wil^, 
Tumbling through rock^ abrupt, and sounding far 



/24 WINTER. 

Then o'er the sanded valley floating spreads, IM 

Calm, sluggish, silent ; till again, constrain'd 

Between two meeting hills, it bursts away, 

Where rocks and woods o'erhang the turbid stre 

Their gathering triple force, rapid, and deep, 

It boils and wheels and foams and thunders thro 

Nature ! great parent ! whose unceasing hand 
Rolls round the Seasons of the changoful year, 
How mighty, how majestic are thy works ! 
With what a pleasing dread they swell the soul \ 
That sees astonish'd ! and astonish'd sings ' 
Ye too, ye winds ! that now begin to blow 
With boisterous sweep, I raise my voice to you. 
Where are your stores, ye powerful beings ! say, 
Where your aerial magazines reserved. 
To swell the brooding terrors of the storm ? 113 

In what far distant region of the sky, 
Hush'd in deep silence, sleep ye when 'tis calm ? 

W^hen from the pallid sky the sun descends, 
With many a spot, that o'er his glaring orb 
Uncertain wanders, stain'd ; rod fiery streaks 12Q 

Begin to flush around. The reeling clouds 
Stagger with dizzy poise, as doubting yet 
Which master to obey : while rising slow, 
Blank, in the leaden-colour'd east, the moon 
Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns. 125 

Seen through the turbid fluctuating air. 
The stars obtuse emit a shiver'd ray ; 
Or frequent seem to shoot athwart the gloom, 
And long behind them trail the whitening blaze. 
Snatch'd in short eddies, plays the wither'd leaf; IM 
And on the flood the dancing feather floats. 
With broaden'd nostrils to the sky upturnd, 
The conscious heifer snufls the stormy gale. 
E'en as the matron, at her nightly task. 
With pensive labour draws the flaxen thread, 13S 

The wasted taper and the crackling flame 
Foretel the blast. But chief the plumy race. 



WINTER. 125 

Tm? ten? its ol'the sky, its changes speak. 
Retiring I'roni the downs, wliere all day long 
They pickd their scanty fare, a blackening train 140 
Of clamorous rooks thick urge their weary llighl . 
And seek tJie closing shelter of the grove ; 
Assiduous, in his bower, the wailing owl 
Plies his sad song. The cormorant on high 
Wheels from the deep, and screams along tiie land. 115 
l/oud shrioks the soaring hern ; and with wild wing 
The circling seafowl cleave the flaky cloud.s. 
Ocean, unequal press'd, with broken tide 
And blinl f-.oinmotion heaves; while from the sliore, 
Eat into caverns by the restless wave, 150 

And forest-rustling mountain, comes a voice, 
That sol'^mn sounding bids the world prepare. 
Then issues forth the storm with sudden burst, 
And hurls the whole precipitated air 
Down, in a torrent. On the passive main 156 

Descends the' etherial force, and with strong gust 
Turns from its bottom the discolour'd deep. 
Through the black night that sits immense around, 
Lash'd into foam, the fierce conflicting brine 
Seems o'er a thousand raging waves to burn : 16C 

Meantime the mountain billows, to the clouds 
In drondful tumult swefl'd, surge above surge, 
Burst into chaos with tremendous roar. 
And anchor'd navies from their stations drive, 
Wild as the winds across the howling waste 165 

Ot mighty waters : now the' inflated wave 
Straining they scale, and now impetuous shoot 
Into the secret chambers of the deep, 
The wintry Baltic thundering o'er their head. 
Emerging thence again, before the breath ITt} 

Of full-ex-^rted heaven they wing their course. 
And dart on distant coasts ; if some sharp rock 
Or shoal insidious break not their career, 
And in loose fragments fling them floating round. 
Nor ess at hand the loosen'd tempest reij^ns. 175 
IJ * 



126 WINTER. 

The mountain thunders ; and its sturdy sons 

Stoop to the bottom of the rocks they shade. 

Lone on the midnight steep, and all aghast, 

The dark wayfaring stranger breathless toils, 

And, often falling, climbs against the blast, 180 

Low waves the rooted forest, vex'd, and shnJs 

What of its tarnish'd honours yet remain j 

Dash'd down, and scatter'd, by the tearing -wind's 

Assiduous fury, its gigantic limbs. 

Thus struggling through the dissipated grove, 185 

The whirling tempest raves along the plain ; 

And on the cottage thatch'd, or lordly roof^ 

Keen-fastening, shakes them to the solid basc^^ 

Bleep frighted flies ; and round the rocking dome, 

For entrance eager, howls the savage blast. 100 

Then too, they say, through all the burden'd air, 

Long groans are heard, shrill sounds, and distant sighs, 

That, utter'd by the Demon of the night. 

Warn the devoted wretch of woe and death. 

Huge uproar lords it wide. The clouds commix'd 
With stars swift gliding sweep along the sky. 196 

All Nature reels. Till Nature's King, who oft 
Amid tempestuous darkness dwells alone, 
And on the wings of the careering wind 
Walks dreadfully serene, commands a calm ; 200 

Th^n, straight, air, sea, and earth are hush'd at once. 

As yet 'tis midnight deep. The weary clouds, 
Slow-meeting, mingle into solid gloora. 
Now, while the drowsy world lies lost in sleep, 
Let me associate with the serious Night, 205 

And Contemplation, her sedate compeer ; 
Let me shake off the' intrusive cares of day, 
And lay the meddling senses all aside. 

Where now, ye lying vanities of life ! 
Ye ever tempting ever cheating train ! 210 

Wliere are you now ? and what is your amounl. ? 
Vexa»:ion, disapi)ointmcnt, and remorse : 
Bad, sickening thought I and yet, deludb:^ man, 



WINTER. 12> 

A. scene of crude disjointed visions past, 
And broken slumbers, rises still resolved, 215 

With new-riush'd hopes, to run the giddy round. 

Father of light and life ! thou Good Supreniu ! 
O, teach me what is good ! teach me Thyself! 
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice. 
From every low pursuit ! and feed my soul 220 

With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure ; 
Sacred, substantia), never fading bliss ! 

The keener tempests rise : and fuming dun 
From all the livid east, or piercing north, 
Thick clouds ascend ; in whose capacious womb 225 
A vapoury deluge lies, to snow congeal'd. 
Heavy they roll their fleecy world along ; 
And the sky saddens with the gather'd storm. 
Through the hush'd air the whitening shower descends, 
At first thin wavering ; till at last the flakes 230 

Fall broad an/i wide and fast, dimming the day 
With a continual flow. The cherish'd fields 
Put on their winter robe of purest white. 
'Tis brightness all ; save where the new snow melts 
Along the mazy current. Low the woods 2^5 

Bow their hoar head ; and ere the languid sun 
Faint from the west emits his evening ray, 
Earth's universal face, deep hid, and chill, 
Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wide 
The works of man. Drooping, the labourer-ox 240 
Stands cover'd o'er with snow, and then demands 
The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven, 
Tamed by the cruel season, crowd around 
The winnowing store, and claim the little bncvi 
Which Providence assigns them. One alone, 246 
The red-br(!a8t, sacred to the household gods, 
Wisely regardful of the' embroiling t.ky, 
In joyless fields and thorny thickets, leaves 
His shivering mates, and pays to trusted man 
His annual visit. Half afraid, he first 250 

^gainsi the window beats ; then, brisk, alights 



128 WINTER. 

Oa the warm hearth ; then, hopping o'er the l3oor, 
Eyes all t'le smiling family askance, 
And pecks, and starts., and wonders where he U ; 
Till, more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 255 

Attract iiis slender feet. The foodlebs wilds 
Pour forth their brown inliabitants. The hare, 
Though timorous of heart, and hard beset 
By death in various forms, dark snares, and dogs, 
And more unpitying men, the garden seeks, Wb 

Urged on by fearless want. The bleating kind 
Eye the bieak heaven, and next the glistening earth. 
"With looks of dumb despair ; then, sad-dis|)ersed, 
Dig for the wither'd herb through heaps of snow. 

Now, sJiepherds, to your helpless charge he kind, 
BaHle the raging year, and fill their pens 266 

W»th food at will ; lodge them below the storm. 
And watch them strict : for from the bellowing east. 
In this dire season, oft the whirlM'ind's wing 
Sweeps up the burden of whole wintry plains 270 

At one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks, 
Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills. 
The billowy tempest whelms ; till, upward urged, 
The valley to a shining mountain swells, 
Tipp d with a wreath high-curling in the sky. 275 

As thus the snows arise ; and foul, and fierce, 
All Winter drives along the darken'd air ; 
In his own l(»ose revolving fields, the swain 
Disaster'd stands; sees other hills ascend, 
Of unknown Joyless brow ; and other scenes, 280 

Of horrid prusjiect, shag the trackless pkiin : 
Nor finds the river, nor the forest, hid 
Beneath the formless wild ; but wanders on 
From hill to dale, still more and more astray ; 
impatient flouncing through the drifted heap3, 283 
Stung with the (.noughts of home; the thoughts ol'homa 
Rush on his nerves, and call their vigour forih 
In many a vain attempt. How sink^J his soui ' 
What black despair, what hoiror fills his hean >. 



I 



WINTER. 125 

When for the dusky spot, which fancy feign'd 890 
His tufted cottajje rising through the snow, 
He meets the roughness of the middle waste, 
Far from the track and bless'd abode of man ! 
While round him night resistless closes fast, 
And every tempest, howling o'er his head, 205 

Renders the savage wilderness more wild. 
Then throng the bus^ 'i :pes into his mind 
Of cover 'd pits, unf^tlornably deep, 
A dire descent ! beyond the power of frost ! 
Of faithless bogs ; of precipices huge, 300 

Smooth 'd up with snow ; and, what is land, unknown, 
What water, of the still unfrozen spring. 
In the loose marsh or solidary lake, 
Where the fresh fountain from the bottom boils. 
These check his fearful steps ; and down he sinks 
Beneath the shelter of the shapeless drift. 306 

Thinking o'er all the bitterness of death, 
Mix'd with the tender anguish Nature shoots 
Through the wrung bosom of the dying man, 
H's wife, his children, and his friends unseen. 310 
In vain for him the' officious wife prepares 
The fire fair-blazing, and the vestment warm ; 
In vain his little children, peeping out 
Into the mingling storm, demand their sire, 
With tears of artless innocence. Alas! 315 

Nor wife, nor children, more shall he behold, 
Nor friends, nor sacred home. On every nerve 
The deadly Winter seizes ; shuts up sense ; 
And, o'er his inmost vitals creeping cold. 
Lays him along the snows, a stiffen'd corse, 320 

Stretch'd out, and bleaching in the northern blast 

Ah ! little think the gay licentious proud, 
Whom ;>leasiiro, power, and affluence surround ; 
They T-^ho their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth. 
And waniv,n, otlcn cruel, riot waste ; 325 

\h ! littit. ihiiila they, wn:le ihey dance along, 
Uov/ mury Ibil;, t*.> vfc.j- mv neut death, 



130 WINTER. 

And all the sad variety of pain. 

How many sink in the devouring Bond, 

Or more devouring flame. How many bleed, 330 

By snamefiil variance betwixt man and man. 

How many pine in want, and dungeon glooms 

Shut from the common air, and common use 

Of their own limbs. How many drink the cup 

Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread 335 

Of misery. Sore pierced by winlry v "'uds, 

How many shrink into the sordid bu: 

Of cheerless poverty. How many shake 

With all the fiercer tortures of the mind, 

Unbounded passion, madness, guilt, remorse ; 340 

Whence tumbled headlong from the height of liic, 

They furnish matter for the tragic Muse. 

E'en in the vale, where Wisdom loves to dwell. 

With friendship, peace, and contemplation join'd, 

How many, rack'd with honest passions, droop 315 

In deep retired distress How many stand 

Around the death-bed of their dearest friends, 

Aiid point the parting anguish. Thought f)nd Man 

Of these, and all the thousand nameless ills, 

That one incessant struggle render life, 350 

One scene of toil, of suffering, and of fate, 

Vice in his high career would stand appall'd, 

And heedless rambling Impulse learn to think; 

The conscious heart of Charity would warm, 

And her wide wish Benevolence dilate ; I^'ht 

The social tear would rise, the social sigh ; 

And into clp;ar perfection, gradual bliss, 

Refining still, the social passions work. 

And here can 1 forget the generous band,* 
Who, touchd with human woe, rcdressive search'd 
Into the horrors of the gloomy jail ? 361 

Unpit-ied, and unheard, where misery moans ; 
Where sickness pines ; where thirst and hunger bum, 
PiUil poor misfortune feels the lash of vice. 
* 'i'he .'uil Committee, in the veai 1729- 



WINTER. 13» 

While in the land of Liberty, the lann 365 

Whose every street and public meeting glow 
With npfui fri.'edom, little tyrants raged ; 
S)iato,h'd the lean morsel from the starving mouth : 
Tore from cold wintry limbs the tattcr'd weed ; 
E'en robb'd them of the last of comfirts, sleep ; 370 
The freeborn Briton to the dungeon chain'd, 
Or, as the lust of cruelty prevail'd, 
At pleasure mark'd liini with inglorious stri])es-, 
And crushd out lives, by secret barbarous ways. 
That f(jr their country would have toild or bled. 375 
O great design ! if executed well, 
With pat'ifMit care, and wisdom-temper'd zeal. 
Ye sons of Mercy ! yet resume the search ; 
Drag n^rth the regal monsters into light, 
Wrench frcnn their hands Oppression's iron rod, IJbO 
And bid the cruel frcl the pains they give. 
Much still untouch'd remains; in this rank age. 
Much is tiie patriot's weeding hand refpiired. 
The toils of law (what dark insidious men 
Have cumbrous added to perplex the truth, 3fe6 

And lengthen sim|)le justice into trade,) 
How glorious were the day ! that saw these broke 
And every man within the reach of right. 

By wintry famine roused, from all the tract 
Of horri^ mountains which the shining Alps, ^M 

And vvavj ^pennine, and I'yrenees, 
fBranch out ,'upendous into distant lands, 
Cruel as deaf!), and hungry as the grave ! 
Burning for bloot, ' bonv and gaunt and grim I 
Assembling wolves in raging tioops descend ; 3DtJ 

And, pouring e'er the country, bear along 
Keen as the north-wind sweeps the glossy snow. 
All is their pri/.o. They fasten on the steed, 
Press him to earth, and pierce his mighty heart 
Nor can the bull his awful front defend, 4(Hf 

Or sb.ake the murdering savages away. 
Rapacious, at the mother s throat tlie}' fly. 



132 WINTER. 

And tt!ar the screaming infant from her breast 

The godlike face of man avails him nought. 

E'en beauty, force divine 1 at whose bright glance 401 

The generous lion stands in softenM gaze, 

Here bleeds, a hapless undistinguish'd prey. 

But if, apprised of the severe attack, 

The country be shut up, lured by the scent, 

On church-yards drear (inhuman to relate ') 410 

The disappointed prowlers fall, and uiir 

The slirouded body from the grave ; o'er which, 

Mix'd with foul shades and frighted ghosts, they hov/i. 

Among those hilly regions, where embraced 
In peaceful vales the happy Grisons dwell ; 
Oft, rusbing sudden from the loaded cliffs, 
Mountains of snow their gathering terrors roll, 
From steep to steep, loud-thundering down they come, 
A wintry waste in dire commotion all ; 
And herds, and flocks, and travellers, and swains, 42? 
And sometimes whole brigades of marching troops 
Or hamlets sleeping in the dead of niglit. 
Are deep beneath the smothering ruin whelm'd. 

Now, all amid the rigours of the year. 
In the wild depth of Winter, while without 425 

The ceaseless winds blow ice, be my retreat, 
Between the groaning forest and the sliore 
Beat by the boundless multitude of waves, 
A rural, shelter'd, solitary scene ; ^ 

Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join, 430 

To cheer the gloom. There studious let me p\t, 
And hold high converse with the migbty Dbad j 
Sagos of ancient time, as gods revered. 
As gods beneficent, who bless'd mankind 
With arts, with arms, and humanized a world. 430 
Roused at the' inspiring thought, I tlirow asidf 
Tlie longhved volume ; and, deep-musing, hail 
The sacred shades, that slowly rising pass 
Before my wondering eyes. First Socrates, 
Who, firmly good in a corrupted state, 440 



WINTER. td3 

Agunst the rago of tyrants single stood, 
Invincible ! calm Reason's holy law, 
That Voice of God within the' attentive mind, 
Obeying, fearless, o» in life or death : 
Great moral teacher ! Wisest of mankind ! 445 

Solon the next, who built his commonweal 
On equity's wide base ; by tender laws 
A lively people curbing, yet undamp'd 
Preserving still that quick peculiar fire, 
Whence in the laurei'd field of finer arts, 4r»0 

And of bold freedom, they unequal'd shone, 
The pride of smiling Greece and humankind. 
Lycurgus then, who bow'd beneath the force 
Of strictest discipline, severely wise. 
All human passions. Following him, I see, 155 

As at Thermopylae he glorious fell, 
The firm devoted Chief,* who proved by deeds 
The hardest lesson which the other taught. 
Then Aristides lifts his honest front ; 
Spotless of heart, to whom the' unflattering voice 460 
Of freedom gave the noblest name of Just ; 
In pure majestic poverty revered ; 
Who, e'en his glory to his country's weal 
Submitting, swell'd a haughty Rival's! fame. 
Rear'd by his care, of softer ray appears 465 

Cimon sweet-soul'd ; whose genius, rising strong, 
Shook off the load of young debauch ; abroad 
The scourge of Persian pride, at home the friend 
Of every worth and every splendid art ; 
Modest and simple in the pomp of wealth. 470 

Then the last worthies of declining Greece, 
Late call'd to glory, in unequal times. 
Pensive appear. The fair Corinthian boast, 
Timoleon, happy temper ! mild and firm, 
Who wept the brother while the tyrant bled. 4?S 

^d, equal to the best, the Theban Pair}: 
* Leonidas. f Themistocles. 

I Peiopidas and Epaminoudas. 
13 



134 WINTER. 

Whose virtues, in heroic concord join'tr, 
Their country raised to freedom, empire, fame. 
He too, vvitli whom Athenian honcmr sunk. 
And left a mass of sordid ices beh'nd, 4ijt 

Piioeion the Good ; in puhhc life severe, 
To virtue still inexorably firm ; 
But when, beneath his low illustrious roof, 
Sweet peace and happy wisdrun sinoth d his brow, 
Njt friendship softer was, nor love more kind. 495 
\nd he, the last of old Lycurjrus' sons, 
''dhe generous victim to that vain altemp'. 
To save a rotten state, Agis, who saw 
E'en Sparta's self to servile avarice sunk. 
The two Achaian heroes close the train : 
Aratus, who awhile relumed the soul 
Of fondly lino-ering liberty in Greece; 
And he her darling as her latest hope, 
The gallant Philupoemen ; who to arms 
Turnd the luxurious pomp he could not cure ; 405 
Or toiling in his farm, a simple swain ; 
Or, bold and skiii\il, thundering in the field 
Of rougher front, a mighty people come! 
A race of heioes! in those virtuous times 
Which knew no stain, save that with partial flame 500 
Their dearest country they too fondly loved : 
Her better Founder first, the light of Rome, 
Numa, who softcn'd her rap,acmiis sons : 
Servius the king, who laid the solid base 
On which o'er earth the vast rcpubli-c spread. 505 

Then the great consuls venerable rise. 
The public Father* who the private quell'd, 
As on the dread tribunal sternly sad. 
He, whosn his thankless country could not lose, 
Camillus, only vengeful to her foes. 510 

Fabricius, scoruer of all conquering gold ; 
And Cincinnatus, awful iVom the plough. 
Thy willing victim,! Carthaje, bursting loose 
♦ Marcus Jujiius Brutu* t Regulm. 



^ 



WliNTER. 135 

y\ m all tliat ple-rainir Nature could oppose, 
FV- m a wiiole city's tears, by rigid faith 515 

lm,.crious caJld, and lu)iinur's dire cnjuniand. 
Bnjpi(», the gentle chief, humanely brave, 
Who soon llie race of spotless glory ran, 
And, warm irj youth, to the poetic shade 
Wilh Friendsliip and Philosophy retired. 520 

Tally, whose powerful eloquence awhile 
Restrained th« raj ': J fi^ie of rushing Rome. 
UnconqtJer'd C- ^ irtuous in extreme : 
And, thou, j.^ , py Brutus, kind of heart, 
Whose uS'e ■' arm, by awful virtue urged, 525 

Lifted th^ mn steel against thy friend. 
Thousands besides the tribute of a verse 
Demand ; but who can count the stars of heaven . 
Who sing their influence on this lower world ? 

Behold, who yonder comes ! in sober state, 530 

Fair, mild, and strong, as is a vernal sun : 
'Tis Phoebus' self, or else the Mantuan Swain ! 
Great Homer too appears, of daring wing, 
Parent of song ! and etpial, by his side. 
The British Muse : joind hand in hand they walk, 535 
Darkling, full U|) the middle steep to fame. 
Nor absent are those shades, whose skilful touch 
Pathetic drew the' impassion'd heart, and charm'd 
Transported Athens with the moral scene ; 
Nor those who, tuneful, waked the' enchanting lyre. 

First of your kind ! society divine ! 541 

Still visit thus my nights, for you reserved, 
And mount my soaring soul to thoughts like yours 
Silence, thou lonely power ! the door be thine , 
See on the liallow'd hour that none intrude, 545 

Save a few chosen friends, who sometimes deign 
To bless my humble roof, with sense refined, 
Learning digested well, exalted fajth, 
Unstudied wit, and humour ever gay. 
Or from the Muses' hill with Pope descend, 55U 

To raise tiie sacred hour, to bid it smile, 



136 WINTER. 

And with tlie social spirit warm the heart r 
For though not sweet liis own Homer sings, 
Yet is his hfe the more endearing^ song. 

Where art thou, Hammond ? thou, the darling prid* 
The friend and lover of the tuneful throng ! 5G6 

Ah, why, dear youth, in all the blooming prime 
Of vernal genius, where disclosing fast 
Each active worth, each manly virtue lay, 
Why wert thou ravish'd from our hope so soon ? 500 
What now avails that noble thirst of fame, 
Which stung thy fervent breast ? that treasured stor» 
Of knowledge, early gain'd ? that eager zeal 
To serve thy country, glowing in the baud 
Of youthful patriots, who sustain her name; 505 

What now, alas ! that life-diifusing charm 
.Of sprightly wit ? that rapture for the Muse, 
That heart of friendship, and that soul of joy. 
Which bade with softest light thy virtues smile ? 
Ah ! only show'd, to check our fond pursuits, 570 

And teach our humble hopes that life is vain ! 

Thus in some deep retirement would I pass 
The winter glooms, with friends of pliant soul. 
Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme ins{)ired : 
With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame 
Was call'd, late-rising from the void of nigiit, 576 

Or sprung eternal from the' Eternal iMind ; 
Its life, its laws, its progress, and its end. 
Hence larger prospects of the beauteous whole 
Would, gradual, open on our opening minds \ 580 

And each diffusive harmony unite 
In full perfection, to the' astonish'd eye. 
Then v/ould we try to sc.in the mortal world. 
Which, though to us it seems embroild, moves on 
In higher order ; fitted and impell'd 5Si 

By Wisdom's finest hand, and issuing all 
In general good. The sage historic Muse 
Should next conduct us through the deeps of time ■ 
Sliow us how empire grew, declined, and fell, 



WINTER. IW) 

n Bcatter'd states ; what makes the nations smile, 590 
Improves their sjil, and gives them double suns ; 
And why they pine beneath the brightest skies, 
\n Nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd, 
Our hearts would burn within us, would inhale 
That portion of divinity, that ray 595 

Of purest heaven, which lights the public soul 
Of patriots and of heroes. But if doom'd, 
In powerless humble fortune, to repress 
These ardent risings of the kindling soul •, 
Then, even superior to ambition, we 600 

Would learn the private virtues ; how to glide 
Through slmdes and plains, along the smoothest stream 
Of rural life : or, snatch'd away by hope, 
Th'-ough the dim spaces of futurity. 
With earnest eye anticipate those rcenes 605 

Of hapi)iness and wonder ; where the mind, 
In endless growth and infinite ascent, 
Rises from state to state, and world to world. 
But when with these the serious thought is foil'd, 
We, shifting for relief, would play the shapes 610 

Of frolic fancy ; and incessant form 
Those rapid pictures, that assembled train 
Of fleet ideas, never join'd before, 
Wlience lively Wit excites to gay surprise j 
Or folly-})aintiug Humour, grave himself, 615 

Calls Laughter forth, deep shaking every nerve. 

Meantime the village rouses up the fire ; 
While well attested, and as well believed, 
Heard solemn, goes the goblin story round ; 
Till superstitious horror creeps o'er all. 620 

Or, frequent in the sounding hall, they wake 
The rural gambol. Rustic mirth goes round ; 
The simple joke that takes the shepherd's heart, 
Easily pleased ; the long loud laugh, sincere ; 
The kiss, snatch'd hasty from the sidelong maid, 625 
On purpose guardless or pretending sleep : 
The leap, the slap, th-c haul ; and, shook to notes 
12" 



138 WINTER. 

Of native music, tlie respondent dance 

Tbus jocund fleets with them the winter night. 

The city swarms intense. The public haunt, 630 
Full of each theme, and warm with niix'd discourse, 
Hums indistinct. The sons of riot flow 
Down the loose stream of false enchanted joy, 
To swifl destruction. On the rankled soul 
The gaming fury falls ; and in one guif 63R 

Of total ruin, honour, virtue, peace, 
Friends, families, and fortune hf .^dlong sink. 
Up springs the dance along the ligiited dome, 
Mix'd and evolved a thousand sprightly ways. 
The glittering court effuses every pomp ; 640 

The circle deepens : beam'd from gaudy robcf, 
Tapers, and sparkling gems, and radiant eyes, 
A soft effulgence o'er the palace waves : 
While, a gay insect in his summer shine. 
The fop, light fluttering, spreads his mealy wings. 645 

Dread o'er the scene the ghost of Hamlet stalks ; 
Othello rages ; poor Monimia mourns ; 
And Belvidera pours her soul in love. 
Terror alarms the breast ; the comely tear 
Steals o'er the cheek : or else the Comic Muse 650 
Holds to the world a picture of itself. 
And raises sly the fair impartial laugh. 
Sometimes she lifts her strain, and paints the scenM 
Of beauteous life ; whate'cr can deck mankind, 
Or charn'. the heart, in generous Bevil* show'd. 655 

O Thoi , whose wisdom, solid yet refined. 
Whose patriot virtues, and consummate skill 
To touch the finer springs that move the world, 
Join'd to whate'er the Graces can bestow, 
And all Apollo's animating fire, 6fl0 

Give thee, with pleasing dignity, to shine 
At once the guardian, ornament, and joy 
Of polish'd life ■. permit the rural Muse, 

* A cliaracter in The Conscious Lovers, written by Sir R. 
Steele. 



4 



WINTER. 139 

O Chesterfield, to grace with thee her song " 
Ere to the shades again she humbly flies, G65 

ludulire her fond ambition, in thy train 
(For every Muse has in thy train a place,) 
To mark thy various full-accomplish'd mind: 
To mark that spirit which, with British scf»rn, 
Re_^3Cts the' allurements of corrupted power ; 070 

That elegant politeness, which excels, 
E'en in the judgment of presumptuous France, 
Tiie boasted manners of her shining court j 
That wit, the vivid energy of sense. 
The truth of jNature, which, with Attic point C7o 

And kind well temper'd satire, smoothly keen, 
Steals through the soul, and without pain correcta 
Or rising thence with yet a brighter flame, 
O, let me hail thee on some glorious day. 
When to the listenmg senate, ardent, crowd 680 

Britannia's sons to hear her pleaded cause 
Then dress'd by tnee, more amiably fair, ) i 

Truth the soft robe of mild persuasion wears* 
Thou to assenting reason givest again 
Her own enlighten'd thoughts ; call'd from the heart, 
The' obedient passions on thy voice attend; 686 

And e'en reluctant party feels awhile 
Thy gracious power ; as through the varied maze 
Of eloquence, now smooth, now quick, now stronor, 
Profound, and clear, you roll the copious flood. 690 

To thy loved haunt return, my happy Muse* 
For no\v, behold, the joyous w^inter days, 
Frosty, succeed ; and through the blue serene, 
For sight too *ine, the' etherial nitre flies ; 
Killing infectious damps, and the spent air 6)i5 

Storing afresh with elemental life. 
Close crowds the shining atmosphere ; and binds 
Our strengthen'd bodies in its cold embrace, 
Constringent ; feeds and animates our blood ; 
Refines our spirits, through the new-strung nerves 70(1 
In swifter sallies darting to the brain ; 



MO WINTER. 

Wl'ere sits the soul, intense, collected, cool; 

Bright as the skies, and as the season keen 

All iNature feels the renovating force 

Of Winter, only to the thougiitless eye 7tS 

[r ruin seen. The frost-concocted glebe 

Draws in abundant vegetable soul, 

And gathers vigour for the coining year. 

A stronger glow sits on the lively cheek 

Of ruddy fire: and luculent along 710 

The purer rivers flow ; their sullen deeps, 

Transparent, open to the shepherd's gaze, 

And murmur hoarser at the fixing frost. 

What art thou, frost.'' and whence are thy keen stores 
Derived, thou secret all-inrading power, 715 

Whom e'en the' illusive fluid cannot fly .'' 
Is not thy potent energy, unseen. 
Myriads of little salts, or hook'd, or shaped 
Like double wedges, and diffused immense 
Through water, earth, and ether ? hence at eve, 720 
Steam'd eager from the red horizon round. 
With the fierce rage of Winter deep snflused, 
An icy gale, oft shifting, o'er the pool 
Breathes a blue film, and in its mid career 
Arrests the bickering stream. The loosen'd ice, 7JJ5 
Let down the flood, and half dissolved by day, 
Rustles no more ; but to the sedgy bank 
Fast glows, or gathers round the pointed stone, 
A crystal pavement, by the breath of heaven 
Cemented firm ; till, seized from shore to shore, 730 
The whole imprison'd river growls below. 
Loud fings the frozen earth, and hard reflects 
A Jouble noise ; while, at his evening watch, 
The village dog deters the nightly thief; 
The heifer lows ; the distant waterfall 735 

Swells in the breeze ; and, with the hasty tread 
Of traveller, the liollow sounding plain 
Shakes from afar. The full etherial round^ 
infinite worlds disclosing to the view, 



WINTER. I*i 

Shines out intensely keen ; and, all one cope 740 

Of starry glitter, glows from pole to pole. 

From pole to pole the rigid influence fails, 

Througli the still night, incessant, heavy, strong, 

And seizes Nature fast. It freezes on ; 

Till Morn, late rising o'er the drooping world, 745 

Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appears 

The various labour of the silent night : 

Prone from the dripping eave, and dumb cascade, 

Whose idle torrents only seem to roar. 

The pendent icicle ; the frost-work fair, 756 

Where transient hues and fancied figures rise ; 

Wide-spouted o'er the hill, the frozen brook, 

A livid tract, cold-gleaming on the morn ; 

The forest bent beneath the plumy wave ; 

And by the frost refined the whiter snow, 755 

Incrusted hard, and sounding to the tread 

Of early shepherd, as he pensive seeks 

His pining flock, or from the mountain top. 

Pleased with the slippery surface, swift descends. 

On blithesome frolics bent, the youtuful swains, 760 
While every work of man is laid at rest. 
Fond o'er the river crowd, in vaiious sport 
And revelry dissolved ; where mixing glad, 
Happiest of all the train ! the raptured boy 
Lashes the whirling top. Or, where the Rhine 765 
Branch'd out in many a long canal extends, 
From every province swarming, void of care, 
Bdtavia rushes forth ; and as they sweep. 
On sounding skates, a thousand ditl'erent ways, 
In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, 77C 

The then gay land is madden'd all to joy. 
Ncr less the northern courts, wide o'er the snow 
Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid sleds. 
Their vigorous youth in bold contention wheel 
The long-resounding course. Meantime to raise 77a 
The manly strife, with highly blcwming charms, 



142 WINTER. 

Flush'd by the season, Scandinavia's darners, 

Or Russia's buxom dauglilers, glow around. 

Pure, quick, and sportl'ul is the wholesome day ; 
Rut soon elapsed. The horizontal sun, 780 

Broad o'er the south, hangs at his utmost noon • 
And, ineflectnal, strikes the gelid cliff: 
His azure gloss the mountain si ill maintains, 
Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the vale 
Relents awhile to the reflected ray : 7^ 

Or from the forest falls the clustered snow, 
Myriads of gems, that in the waving gleam 
Gay-twinkle as they scatter. Thick around 
Thunders the sport of those, who with tJie gun.. 
And dog impatient bounding at the shot, 790 

Worse than the Season, desolate the fields ; 
And, adding to the ruins of the year. 
Distress the footed or the feather'd game. 

But what is this ? our infant Winter sinks 
Divested of his grandeur, should our eye 795 

Astonish'd shoo' into the frigid zone ; 
Where, for relentless months, continual Night 
Holds o'er the glittering waste her starry reign. 

There, through the prison of unbounded wilds, 
Barr'd by the hand of Nature from escape, 800 

Wide roams the Russian exile. Nought around 
Strikes his sad eye but deserts lost in snow ; 
And heavy -loaded groves ; and solid floods, 
That stretch, athwart the solitary vast. 
Their icy horrors to the frozen main ; 805 

And cheerless towns far distant, never bless'd, 
Save when its annual course the caravan 
Bends to the golden coast of rich Cathay,* 
With news of humankind. Yet there life glows j 
Yet cl\erish'd there, beneath the shining waste, 810 
The furry nations harbour : tipp'd with jet, 
Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they press ', 
* 'I'he old name tor China. 



WINTER. 14-1 

Sables, of glossy black ; and dark-einbrowu'd, 
Or beauteous freak 'd with many a mingled hue, 
Thousands besides, the costly pride ot couiis. 81? 

There, warm together press'd, tlie trooping deer 
Sleep on the new-fallen snows ; and, scarce his head 
Raised o'er the heapy wreath, tlie branching elk 
Lies slumbering sullen in the white abyss. 
The ruthless hunter wants nor dogs nor toils, 82(1 

Nor with the dread of sounding bows he drives 
The fearful Hying race , with ponderous clul)s, 
As weak agamst tiie mountain heaps they push 
Their beating breast in vain, and piieous bray, 
He lays them quivering !>n the' ensanguined sn^ows, 
And with loud shouts rejoicing bears them home. 82t 
There through the piny forest half-absorb'd, 
Rough tenant of these shades, the shapeless bear, 
With dangling ice all hoTid, stalks forlorn ; 
Slow-paced, and sourer as the storms increase, 830 
He makes his bed beneath the' inclement drift, 
And, with siern patience, scorning weak complaint. 
Hardens his heart against assailing want. 

"Wide o'er the spacious regions of the north, 
That see Bootes urge hip tardy wain, 835 

A boisterous race, by frosty Caurus* pierced, 
Who little pleasure know and fear no pain, 
Prolific swarm. They once relumed the flame 
Of lost mankind in polish 'd slavery sunk, 
Drove martial horde on horde, t with dreadful sweep 
Resistless rushmg o'er the' enfeebled south, 841 

And gave the vanquishd world another form. 
Not such the sons of l^ap'and : wisely they 
Despise the' insensate barbarou'^ trade of war, 
Th^y ask no more than shnple Nature gives, 845 

They love their mountanis, and enjoy their siorms 
No false desires, no pride-created wants, 
Disturb the peaceful current of their time ; 

* The Norili-west wind. 

t I'he wandering cScvthian ciaat. 



J44 WINTER. 

And through the restless ever tortured maze 

Of pleasure or ambition bid it rage. 850 

Their reindeer form tiieir riches. These their tente, 

Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth 

Supply, their wholesome fare and cheerful cups. 

Obsequious at their call, the docile tribe 

Yield to the sled their necks, and whirl them swifl 851 

O'er hill and dale, heap'd into one expanse 

Of marbled snow, as far as eye can sweep, 

With a blue crust of ice unbounded glazed. 

By dancing meteors then, that ceaseless shake 

A waving blaze refracted e'er the heavens, 860 

And vivid moons, and stars that keener play 

With doubled lustre from the glossy waste, 

E'en in the depth of polar night, they find 

A wondrous day : enough to iij;;ht the chase, 

Or guide their daring steps to Finland fairs. 865 

Wish'd Spring returns ; and from the hazy south, 

While dim Aurora slowly moves before, 

The welcome sun, just verging up at first, 

By small degrees extends the swelling curve ! 

Till seen at last for gay rejoicing months, 870 

Still round and round his spiral course he winds, 

And as lie nearly dips his flaming orb. 

Wheels up again, and reascends the sky. 

In that glad season, from the lakes and floods, 

Where pure Niemi's* fairy mountains rise, 875 

And fringed with roses Tengliot rolls his stream, 

* M, de Maupertius, in his book on the Figure of the Eartli, 
after having described the beautiful lake and niountain of 
Wiemi, in Lapland, says, " Fron. this height we had opportu- 
nity several times to see those vapours rise from the lake, 
which the people of the country call H?ltios, and which they 
deem to be the guanl-an spirits of ihe mountains. We had 
been frighte<l with stories of bears that haunted this piace, but 
saw none. It seemed rather a place of reson for fairies and 
genii than bears." 

t The same author observes, " I was Mirprised to see upoa 
the banks of this river (the Tenglio) roses of as lively a re«l 8l 
any that are in our gardens.'^ 



WINTER 146 

They draw tne copious fry. With these, at ovfc, 
They cheerful loaded to their tents repair ; 
Where, all day long in useful cares eniploy'd, 
Their kind unbieini.«h d wives the fire prepare. 880 
Tiince i;appy race ! by poverty secured 
From lejral plunder and rapacious power : 
In wh(tin fell interest never yet has sown 
The seeds of vice : whose spotless swains ne'er knew 
Injurious deed, nor, blasted by the breach 685 

Of faithless love, their blooming daughters wo"5. 

Still pressing on, beyond Tornea's lake, 
And Hecla flaming through a waste of snow, 
And furthest Greenland, to the pole itself, 
Where, failing gradual, life at length goes out, 890 
The Muse expands her solitary flight ; 
And, hovering o'er the wild stupendous scene, 
Beholds new seas buneath another sky.* 
Throned in his palace of cerulean ico, 
Here Winter holds his unrejoicing court; 8^6 

AijQ through his airy hall the loud misrule 
0[ driving tempest is for ever heard : 
lipre the grim tyrant meditates his wrrXh ; 
Here arms his winds with all-subduing frost ; 
Moulds his fierce hail, and treasures up hia snows, 000 
With which he now oppresses half the globe. 

Thence, winding eastward to the Tartar's coast, 
She sweeps the howling margin of the main ; 
Wher^ unJi.ssolving, from the first of time. 
Snows swell on snows amazing to the sky ; 905 

,\nd icy mountains high on mountains piled, 
Seem to the shivering sailor from afar, 
Shapeless and white, an atmosphere ofcloudc 
Projected huge and horrid o'er the surge, 
Alps frown on Alps ; or, rushing hideous down, 910 
As if old Chaos was again return'd, 
\V'ide rfc'nd ^he deep, and shako the SG^id pole. 
* The other hemisphere. 
J3 



146 WLNTER. 

Ocean itself no longer can resist 

'Die binding fury : but, v.n all its rage 

Of tempest taken by the boundless) frost. 915 

In rnauy a fatli)m to the bottom chain'd, 

And bid to lour no more : a bleak expanse, 

Shan-gd o'er with wavy rocks, clxeerless, and void 

Of every life, that from the dreary months 

Flies conscious southward. Miserable they . f)20 

Who, here enta..gled in the gathering ice, 

Take their last look of the descending sun ; 

While, full of death and fierce with i,enf( Id frost, 

The long long night, incumbent o'er tlseir heads, 

Falls horrible. Such was the Briton's* *ate, 925 

As with first prow (what have not Britons dared ?) 

He for the passage sought, attempted sii.ce 

So much in vain, and seemmg to be shut 

By jealoud nature with eternal bars. 

In these fell regions, in Arzina caught, IKJU 

And to the stony deep his idle ship 

Immediate seal'd, he wim his hapless crew, 

Each full exerted at his several task, 

Froze into statues ; to the cordage glued 

'1 he sailor, and the pilot to the helm. 935 

Hard by these shores, where scarce h!s freezing etreiiiin 
Rolls tho wild Oby, live the last of men ; 
And, half enliven'd by the distant sun, 
That rears and ripens man as well as plants, 
Here human Nature wears its rudest form. 940 

Deep from the piercing season sunk in caves. 
Here by dull fires, and with unjoyous cheer. 
They waste the tedious gloom. Immersed in furs, 
Doze the gross race. Nor sprightly jest, nor song, 
Nor tenderness they know : nor augnt of life 945 

Beyond the kindred bears that stalk without. 
Till morn at length, her roses drooping all, 

' "^ir Huf^h VVillon^hby, sent by Queen Elizabeth lodii 



WINTER. 141 

Sheds a long twiliglit brightening o'er their fields, 
And Crtlls the quiv-er'd savage to the cliase. 

What cannot active government perform, 95G 

New-moulding man ? Wide-stretching from these 
A people savage from remotest time, [shores, 

A huge neglected enjpire, one vast mind, 
Ey Heaven inspired, from gothic darkness calFd. 
jmmortal Peter I first oi' monarcns 1 he 9iS 

liis stubborn country tamed, her rocka, her fens, 
Her floods, hci otas, ker ill submitting sons j 
And while tl- erce barbarian he subdued, 
To more e- v.lloc soul he raised the man. 
Ve shade" >] ancient heroes, ye who toil'd 960 

Through long successive ages to build up 
A labouring plan of state, behold at once 
The wonder done ! behold the matchless prince ! 
Who left his native throne, where reign'd till then 
A mighty shadow of unreal power ; 065 

Who greatly spurn'd the slothful pomp of courts; 
And roaming every land, in every port 
His sceptre laid aside, with glorious hand 
Unwearied plying the mechanic tool, 
Gatherd the seeds of trade, of useful arts, 970 

Of civil wisdom, and of martial skill. 
Charged with the stores of Europe, home he goes ! 
Then cities rise amid the' illumiaed waste ; 
O er joyless do'jerts smiles the rural reign ; 
Far distant flood to flood is social join'd ; 975 

The' astonish'd Euxine hears the Baltic roar ; 
Proud navies ride on seas that nevor foam'd 
With daring keel before ; and armies stretch 
Each way their dazzling files, repressing here 
The frantic Alexander of the north, 980 

And awing there stern Othman's shrinking Bons. 
Sh th flies the land, and Ignorance, and Vice, 
C f old dishonour proud : it glows around, 
Taught ^y the Royal Hand that roused the whole, 



m 



143 WINTER. 

One scne of arts, of arms, of rising trade : 983 

For vvftat his wisdom plann'd, and power enforced, 
More potent still, his ^reat eiample show'd. 

Mutte-in^, the winds at eve, with blunted point, 
Blow hollow-blustering from the south. Subdued, 
Tlie frost resolves into a tncklintr thaw. 9LH) 

Spotted the mountams shine ; loose sieet descends, 
And floods the country round. The rivers b»vell, 
Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills, 
Oei rocks and woods, in broad brown cataricts, 
A thousand snow-fed torrents shoot at once ; 91)5 

And, where they rusii, the wide-resounding plain 
Is left one slimy waste. Those sullen seas. 
That wash'd the" ungenial pole, will rest no more 
Beneath the shackles of the mighty norih ; 
But, rousing all their w.v/es, resistless heavo. 1000 
And hark ! the lengthening roar continuous runs 
Athwart the rifted deep : at once it bursts, 
And piles a thousand mountains to the clouds 
III fares the bark, with trembling wretches charged. 
That, toss'd amid the floating fragments, moors 1005 
Beneath the shelter of an icy isle. 
While night o'erwhelrns the sea, and horror looks 
?/Iore horrible. Can numan force enduro 
The' assembled m.ischiefs that besiege them round? 
Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting weariness, 1010 

The roar of winds and waves, the crush of ice, 
Now ceasmg, now renevv'd with louder rage, 
And in dire echoes bellowing round the main. 
More to embroil the deep, Leviathan, 
And his unwieldy train, in dreadful sport, 1015 

Tempest the loosen d brine, while through the gloono. 
Far from the bleak inhospitable shore 
Loading the winds, is heard the hungry howl 
Of fami?h'd monsters, there awaiting wre(,k8 
Vet Provide nee, that ever waking eye, 1080 

Looks down with pity on the feeble toil 



m 



WINTER. 14% 

Of morlafs f^s. to hope, and ligiits them safe, 
Through a!i this dreary labyrinth of fav.a. 

'Tis done ! dread Winter spreads his latest glooms^ 
And reigns tremendous o'er the con(]U3r'd jea/. 1025 
How dead the vegotable kingdom lies 
How dumb the tuneful ! horror wide extends 
His desolate domain. Behold, fond man ! 
See here thy pictured life ; pass seme few years, 
Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent strength, 
Thy sober Autumn fading into age, 1031 

And pale concluding Winter comes at last, 
And shuts the scere. Ah ! whither now are fled 
Those dreams of greatness? those un'^olid hopes 
Of happiness .'' those longings after fame ? 1035 

Those restless cares .'' those busy bustling days ? 
Those gay-spent, festive nights ? ihose veering thoughts, 
Lost between good and ill, that shared thy life ? 
All now are vanish'd I Virtue sole survives, 
Immortal never failing friend of Man, 1040 

His guide to happiness on high. And see ! 
'Tis come, the glorious morn ! the second birth 
Of heaven and earth ! awakening Natme hears 
The new-creating word, and starts to life, 
In every heighten'd form, from pain and death 1045 
For ever free. The great eternal scheme, 
Involving all, and in a perfect whole 
Uniting, as the prospect wider spreads, 
To reason's eye refined clears up apace. 
Ye vainly wise ! ye blind presumptuous ! now, 105ft 
Confounded in the dust, adoTe that PoAver 
And Wisdom oft arraign'd : see \iow the cause. 
Why unassuming worth in secret lived. 
And died neglected : why the good man's share 
,n life was gall and bitterness of soul : 10^ 

V^'hy the lone widow and her orphans pined 
If starving solitude ; while Luxury, 
Ir palaces, lay straining her low thought, 

la* 



160 WINTER. 

To form unreal wants : why heaven-born truth, 

And moderation fair, wore the red marks 1069 

Of superstition's scourge : why licensed pain, 

That cruel spoiler, that embosom u fo9, 

Embitter'd all our bliss. Ye good distressed i 

Ye noble few ! who here unbending stand 

Beneath life's pressure, yei bear up awhile, I06fi 

Am' what your bounded view, which only saw 

K little part, deem'd evil is no more : 

The storms of Wintry Time will quicklj pftsV) 

kad one luiboundtid Spring encircle &ll 




<3 ^ /^ ft^-f-^ 



II Y IVI N. 

These, as they chancje, Almightv Fatker, tii«sb 

Are but tne varied Guu. The roHing year 

is full of Thee. Forth in the pleasuig Sprint 

Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness, auu love. 

\Viue flush the fields ; the softening air is balm ; 5 

Echo the mountains round : the forest smiles ; 

And every sense, and every heart is joy. 

Then comes thy glory in the Summer months, 

VVi'h light and heart refulgent. Then thy sun 

Khoots full perfection through the swelling year •• 10 

And oft THY VOICE in dreadful thunder speaks : 

And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve, 

By brooks and groves, in hollow-whispering gales 

Thy bounty shines in Autumn unconfined, 

And spreads s. common feast for all that lives. 15 

In Winter awful Thou ' with clouds and storms 

Around Thee thrown, tempest o'er tempest roU'd. 

Majestic darkness ! on the whirlwind's wing, 

Riding sublime, Thou bidst the v/orld adore, 

And humblest Nature with thy northern blast. 20 

Mysterious round ! what skill, what force divine, 
Deep felt, in these appear ! a simi)le train, 
Yet so delightful mix'd, with such kind art, 
Sucli beauty and beneficence combined ; 
Shade, unperceived, so softening into shade ; 25 

And all so forming an harmonious whole ; 
That, as they still succeed, they ravish still. 
But wandering oft, with brute unconscious gaze, 
Wan maiks not Thee, marks not the mighty hand, 
That, ev5r busy, wheels the silent sphere ; 3U 



152 HYMN. 

Works in the secret deep ; shoots, steaminnf, thence 
The fair profusion that o'erspreads the Spring; 
Fhngs from the sun direct the flaming day ; 
Feeda every creature ; hurls the tempest forth ; 
And, as on earth this grateful chanjre .evolves, 35 
With tran;?port touches all the sprino^s of life 

Nature, attend ! join, '^very living soul 
?j«!nea1h the spacious temple of the sky, 
In adoration join ; and, ardent,'ra'se 
One general song ! To Him, ye vocal gales. 40 

Breathe soft, whose spirit in ^^ur freshness brealhos • 
Oh, talk of IIiM in solitary glooms ! 
V»"here, o'er the rock, the scarcely waving pine 
Fills the brown shade with a religious awe. 
And ye, whose bolder note is heard afar, 45 

Who shake the' astonish'd world, lift high to heaven 
The' impetuous song, an<l say from whom you rage. 
Uis praise, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills; 
And let me catch it as I muso along. 
Ye headlong torrents, rapid and [♦rofound ; 50 

Ye sofler floods, that lead the humid maze 
.Mong the vale ; and thou, majestic main. 
A secret world of wonders in thyself, 
Sound His stupendous praise : whose greater voice 
< )r bids you roar or bids your roarings fall. 55 

Soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, 
In mingled clouds to Him ; whose sun exalts, 
Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints. 
Yo forests, bend ; ye harvests, wtve to Hni ; 
Breathe your still song into the reaper's heart, TjO 

As home he goes beneath the joyous moon. 
Ye ,hat keep watch in heaven, as earth asleep 
Unconscious lies, effuse your mildest beams, 
Ye constellations, while your angels strike, 
AwiLd the spangled sky, the silver lyre. 61 

Great source of day ! best image here below 
Of thy Crkator, ever pouring wide, 
From world to world, the vital ocean round, 



HYMN. 153 

On Nature write with every beam His praise. 
The thunder rolls ; he hush'd the prostrate worldj 70 
While cloud to cloud returns the solemn hymn. 
Bloat out afresh, je hills : ye mossy rocks, 
Rotair the sound : the broad responsive lowe, 
Ye valloysV raise ; for the Great Shkpherd relgm , 
And his li/suffcring kingdom yet will conje. 7b 

Ye wnodknds all, awako : a boundless song 
fjurst from the groves ! and when the restlesg «lay, 
Kxoirin^, lays the warbiing world asleep, 
gw^iiest of birds ! sweet Philomela, charm 
'The listening shades, and teach the night His praise 
Ye cJuef, for whom the whole creation smile?, fel 

At once the head, the heart, and tongue of all, 
Crown the great hymn ; in swarming cities vast, 
Assembled men, to the deep organ join 
The long resounding voice, oft breakmg clear, 85 

At solemn pauses, through the swelling base ; 
And, as each mingling flame increases 3ich, 
in one united ardour rise to heaven. 
IJr if yoi» rather choose the rural shade, 
And find a fane in every sacred grove ; 90 

There let the shepherd's flute, the virgin's lay, 
The prompting seraph, and the poet's lyre, 
gtill sing the Goi> or Seasons as they roll ! — 
For rae, when 1 forget the darling theme, 
V hether the blossom blows, the summer ray 9B 

Russets the plain, inspiring Autumn gleama. 
Or Winter rit.es in the blackening east; 
De my tongue mute, my fancy paint no more, 
And, dead to joy, forget my hea,rt to beat ! 

Should fate command me to tiie furthest verge 100 
Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climed, 
Rivers unknown to song ; where first the sun 
Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam 
Fla-.nes on the" Atlantic isles ; 'tis nouglit to me ■ 
Smce God is over present, ever felt, IQS 

hi the void waste as in tlie city full : 



54 HYMJi 

And where He vita] breathes there rattttt b© k'^ 

When even at last the solemn hour shall come, 

And wing my mystic flight to future wf»r Id.*, 

. cneerful will obey r there, with new po wor-*, In 

^V"i!l rL'in^ vonders sing I cannot go 

'M^bero Unirersai Love not smiles aroana , 

Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their Pun? \ 

From seeming Evil still educing Good, 

And better thence again, and better still .*! 

In infinite progression. But I lose 

Myself in Him, in Light ineflablo ! -. 

Coma llien cxjiressire Silence, muse Hw pi 



JUL -1 iS'ii* 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: March 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




